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BEDFORD 



SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, 



^UGS-. 27, 1879. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, 

JONATHAN F. STEARNS, D.D., 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEWARK, N. J. 



01 Skclcl) of tl)e Celebration. 



BOSTON: 

ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS, 

34 SCHOOi, Street. 

1879. 



<,\^.^ 

^<>- 



Bedford, Mass., Sept. 8, 1879. 
Eev. Jonathan F. Stearns, D. D. : 

Dear Sir, — At a recent meeting of the Committee of Arrangements for 
the late Sesqui-Ceuteuuial Celebration, by a unanimous vote the sincere 
and hearty thanks of the committee were extended to yon for preparing and 
delivering the eminently acceptable and instructive address upon the his- 
tory of Bedford. It was also voted to request of you a copy of the same 
for publication. Trusting you may be able to accede to this request, 

I remain sincerely yours, 

GEO. E. LOVEJOY, 

Secretary. 



Bedford, Sept. 10, 1879. 
Eev. Geo. E. Lovejoy : 

My Bear Brother, — I cheerfully comply with your request by placing 
a copy of my address at your disposal. Some matter which was omitted 
in the delivery for want of time I have taken the liberty to include. In so 
doing, let me acknowledge my indebtedness to those who have kindly 
aided me in the collection of materials, and particularly to my brother, Mr. 
Josiah A. Stearns, to whose manuscript " History of Bedford " I have had 
free access. I hope it will, at no distant day, be completed and given to 
the public in a permanent form. 

With the highest respect and esteem, 

Yours truly, 

J. F. STEARNS. 



ORATIO^^. 



How sublimely impressive and majestic is the march of 
Time ! Pulse by pulse beat the seconds and the minutes 
and the hours. Tramp, tramp, tramp ! like a file of soldiers 
marching under your Avindows early in the morning, when 
you are half asleep, go the days and the Avecks and the 
months. The annual festivals — Christmas, New Year, Fourth 
of July — are the mile-stones that mark the progress of the 
years, and on, on, on, pass the generations and the centu- 
ries and the ages, and the reons upon asons, to eternity ! 
We stand our little day on "this bank and shoal of time," 
and behind us arc the ages unnumbered and before us a 
shoreless Forever ! And here, just here, we have our work 
to do, our destiny to achieve. 

We Bedford bo^^s and girls have come home here to cele- 
brate our good old mother Bedford's diamond wedding-day. 
We reckon here by fifties, as you see. We cannot aftbrd to 
notice twenty-fives. 

Things have changed, it is true, from what they once were. 
The good old primitive days when Uncle Jim, the old bach- 
elor, went a-courting to Aunt Molly Pollard, just once a 
year, on Kew-Year's day, and sat with her into the little 
hours of the night, and then at lenglh was married — '' the 
Hassel he Avas ! " — and lived with her up there on the hill, 
at the end of the long, grassy lane, till they Avere both over 
fourscore, Avcre mostly matters of tradition Avhen the oldest 



6 ORATION. 

of US wore young. There have been changes, too, in the face 
of nature. The l^rook that used to roar and dash so grandly 
after a long rain or a copious thunder-shower, up near the 
north school-house, and in which we boys used to lind so 
much sport, damming it up with stones and grass-sods and 
then letting it go, till avc were wet half up to the neck, and 
had to go straight to our seats when we came in, and dry up 
as best we could, does not seem to be just what it used U) 
be. And the tall, slender trunk of the old elm, which, till 
lately, stood stoo})ing over on the very edge of the bank, with 
half its roots bare, just as it stood, to my certain knowledge, 
more than sixty years ago, — w^hen the great hurricane of 
l^^lf), which l>lew oft" chinmeys, overturned sheds and l)arns, 
and rooted up whole orchards in all this region, to the wonder 
of us all, did not start it, — is gone at length, quite decayed, 
as it proved, at the heart, but green to the last on the top, 
heavenward. Yet there are still the same green meadows ! I 
wonder if the boys and girls get as good sweet flagroot, — 
calamus, they call it, I l»elieve, now, — and in the winter coast 
down the long icy slope with as merry yells, as they used to? 
Yes, times have changed, no doul)t. In many respects, 
they have changed much for the better. As I w^alk through 
this beautiful street, I see tokens of a thrift and taste which 
conserves all that is good in the old, while it superinduces 
the new. And the old leafy by-paths, kept in good order, 
though scarcely discoverable by a stranger, still carry you all 
lound from corner to corner of the town plot, through much 
of the most enjoyable scenery. And here are the same hills, 
and the same mill streams, and the same Concord Jiixcr, 
windinu: alonij the border, and the birds sinjj and look just as 
the}' used to, the robins and the bluel)irds, the bobolinks 
;uid the ori(des. the " lire-haug-biids," we used to call them; 
Jiiid old IJedfoid i,> old IJedfoid still, ;uiil 1 am ix-advto shout, 



ORATION. 7 

as we all intend to do to-da}', with a right good-will, Old 
Bedford foeever ! 

The anniversary we are now met to celebrate is the anni- 
versary of a toivn, an institution quite peculiar to New Eng- 
land. What are called towns exist elsewhere, Init i\\ej are 
a different thing, both in organization and in privileges and 
duties. In the South, except in Louisiana, the county takes 
the place of the town, and in the Middle States the town acts 
under the authority of the county. The same, substantially, 
is true of the towns or townships of the AVest. But in Xcav 
England the town is a complete body politic, having its own 
organization, its o^vn officers, its own functionaries, and its 
own administration. "It is," says an able writer (S. A. Gal- 
pin, LL. D., in the United States Political Atlas), "the i)o- 
litical unit, a municipal corporation, with full corporate rights 
and powers, and responsible solely to the legislature." It is 
in accordance with this theory that the lirst Constitution of 
our own State, having been framed l)y a convention of dele- 
gates from the towns, was submitted to the towns for their 
approval, in order to its final adoption, and that, till recently, 
the towns were the direct source of representation in the 
lower house of the Legislatiu-e. 

This distribution of the whole country- into towns secured, 
at an early da}', the emphatic approval of that very acute 
republican statesman, Thomas Jeflerson, the third in the line 
of our Presidents. He speaks of them as " the vital princi- 
ple of our government," and says, "they have approved 
themselves the wisest inventions ever devised by the wit of 
man for the perfect exercise of self-government and for its 
preservation." "These little republics," he says, "are the 
main strength of the great ones. We owe to them the vigor 
given to our Revolution in its commencement in the Eastern 
States, and by them the Eastern States were enabled to 



8 ORATION. 

repeal the Emljariro in opi)()siti()n to the Middle, Southern, 
and A\'t'steni States and their long and IuIiIxtIv division, 
whieh can never be assembled." 

It also attracted the attention and secured the warm 
approbation of that eminent French statesman, De Toc(|ue- 
ville, who visited this country many years ago, for the ex- 
press purpose of studying its institutions, and wrote one of 
the ablest l)Ooks on the subject that has ever been Mritten. 
What attracted him most was the well-regulated, independent 
sovereignty of the jieople. " In the United States,'" he says, 
" it is believed, and with trulh, that patriotism is a kind of 
devotion, wliicli is strengthenccl l)y ritual oliscrvancc. In 
this manner the activity of the township [he means the 
town] is continually pcrce})tible. The native of New Eng- 
land is attached to his township, because it is free. lie prac- 
tises the art of government in the small sphere within his 
reach, he accustoms himself to those forms which alone insure 
the steady progress of b'bei-ty ; he iml)ibes their spirit, and col- 
lects clear, practical notions on the nature of its duties and the 
extent of its rights." " England once governed the mass of the 
colonics, but the people was always sovereign in the towns." 

A very fine resume of their actual inlbuMice is to be found 
in a very able essay, read before the ^lassachusctts Histori- 
cal Society, and published in pamphlet form, some years 
ago, by lion. Joel Parker, of Cambridge, ^lass. "It is," he 
sjiys, "through the action of the town incorporations that 
the Puritan i)rinci})les have been sustained, the New Eng- 
land character formed, the industry and economy of the 
})eople promoted, the education of the whole })()j)nlatioii i)ro- 
vided for, and perhaps the independence of the country 
secured. I am sure I do not (exaggerate their importance, 
when I say that they have I)een the arterial syMon of .New 
I'jiuland, throiiiili which has eirculated the lif'e-hlood wliieli 



ORATION. 9 

has invigorated, sustained, and strengthened her, making her 
expand in her religions, social, edncational, and political 
institutions and character." 

It was near the opening of a most momentous period in 
the history of our country that what is now the town of 
Bedford was introduced into the sisterhood of towns, and be- 
came clothed with their important functions and prerogatives. 
The earliest trace I have been able to find of a movement 
towards that result is in the "History of Concord, Bedford, 
and the Adjoining Towns," by Lemuel Shattuck, of Concord. 
(Page 255.) 

" The inhal)itants of Winthrop's Farms," he says, " which 
were included in this territor}^," that is, the Bedford territory, 
"petitioned the General Court, in 1725, to be erected into a 
separate parish or town. An order of notice passed upon 
this petition, but being opposed l)y Billerica, it was unsuc- 
cessful." From the Billerica records, it appears that a peti- 
tion to the same effect came before that town again on the 
14th of May, 1728, which after two adjournments and as 
many long debates, was decided in the negative. Some con- 
cessions, however, were made to the petitioners in respect to 
taxes, and a committee was appointed "to give in reasons." 

Again the case came up in the General Court of the Prov- 
ince, June 19, 1728, on a petition of Edward Watkins, 
John Wilson, and a considerable number of others, setting 
forth the great difficulties to which they were subjected, by 
reason of their distance from the meeting-house, in the towns 
of Concord and Billerica, and therefore praying that they 
may be set off^ as a separate township. 

This petition was read, and referred to the next session, 
and the petitioners were directed to serve the towns of Bil- 
lerica and Lexington with copies of it, that they might show 
cause whv it slnjuld not be <iranted. 
2 



10 ORATION. 

Then Jigjiin, on July 18, 1728, a petition camo in, of "divers 
inhabitants of Concord, Billorica, and Lexinaton, to be made 
a precinct, as entered June 18, 1728." This petition was 
read in council, the record says, together with the circular of 
Billcrica, and referred to a connnittce, previously appointed 
with reference to Billerica lands, with directions to go on the 
icround, carefullv investii>ate the whole matter, " notifvinir the 
town of Billcrica of their coming, hear all parties, and report at 
the next full session, Avhether they judge it reasonable that 
the petitioners should be set ofi' and constituted a sei)arate 
township or prec-inct," the charges of the committee to be 
borne by the petitioners of the town of Billerica. 

The connnittee took about five months, and then, Dec. 20, 
1728, brought in a full report, the conclusion of Avhich is, 
"that the coinmittec are humbly of ()j)ini()n that the lands 
petitioned for. as well l)y the Billerica ])ctitioners as l)y those 
of C'oncoi-d, and l)v a vote of the toAvn of Concord set oft" to 
and Joined with the petitioners of Billerica, are well accom- 
modated for that purpose. That, therefore, the said lands, 
A\ itli the inhabitants thereon, l>e set oft" and erected into a 
distinct townshij)," with bounds which they then go on to 
describe. These arc substantially, I believe, with one or 
two exce])tions, the same boundaries which the town has to 
this day. 

In council, this was rea<l and accepted, and petitioners 
had "leave to bring in a l)ill accordingly to the House of 
Representatives.'' Billerica now yielded gracefully, " voted 
that they would act something referring to the petitioners," 
choose a connnittee of elexcn men to "manage the affair, 
and agree \\\n)\\ the l)onndaries, etc." 

Billerica \\:is " very reluctant," it is said. We are not told 
why. An old chronicler has quaintly said, " A rib was taken 
oil" from Billcrica to make Bedford." Old Father Adam, 



ORATION. 11 

likely enough, Avas reluctant when he had to part with his rib. 
It is to be hoped , however, that neither of them was sorry 
when they saw what was made out of it. 

Meanwhile the petitioners from Concord had taken care to 
forestall all opposition on that side by obtaining the full con- 
sent of their fellow-townsmen. As the petition is long, I 
give only an abstract of it. It is addressed "To the Gentle- 
men, the Selectmen of the town of Concord, in lawful meet- 
ing assembled," and sets forth that they, in conjunction with 
the southerly part of Billerica, having found themselves 
under the necessity of maintaining separate worship during 
the past winter, "by reason of their distance from the place 
of worship in their respective towns, have agreed to ask of 
them a dismission, that they may be formed into a distinct 
township or district, if the General Court shall see fit so to 
constitute them. They find it extremely difficult to travel so 
far with their families, and are temi^ted to say of the Sabbath, 
' What a weariness is it ! ' " 

They go on to disclaim all disaffection to the pastor or the 
church, their only desire is to be eased of their burden, "that 
the word of God may be nigh us, in our homes and in our 
hearts, that we and our little ones may serve the Lord," 

To this Concord gave her consent, and now, the obstacles 
being all removed, their request was granted. It stands 
upon the State records as follows : — 

AN ACT 

FOR ERECTING A NEW TOWN, WITHIN THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, BY THE 
NAME OF BEDFORD. 

Whereas, The inhabitants of the northeasterly part of Concord, 
and the southeasterly part of Billerica, labor under great difHculties 
in their attendance on the public worship of God, and, thereupon, have 
addressed this Court that the land on the northeasterly part of Concord 
and the southerly part of Billerica, lying together, and whereon they 
dwell, may be erected into a township, and that they may be set off a 



12 ORATION. 

distinct and separate town, vested with all the rights and privileges 
of a town; 

Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant Governor, Council, and 
Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of 
the same. That the northeasterly part of Concord, etc., be and hereby 
is, set off and instituted a separate township, b}' the name of Bedford. 

Then foUoAvs a description of the boundaries, and the Act 

conchides : — 

And that the inhabitants of the said lands be, and hereby are, 
vested with powers, privileges, and immunities, that the inhabitants 
of any of the towns of this Province, are or ougllt to be vested with. 
Provided, That the said town of Bedford do, wilhin the space of three 
years from the publication of this act, erect, build, and finish a suitable 
House for the Public Worship of God. and i)rocure and settle a Learned 
and Orthodox minister of good conversation, and make j)rovision for 
his comfortable and honorable support, and likewise i)rovide a school, 
to instruct their 3'outh in Writing and Beading. 

The above bears date in the margin, Sept. 23, 1729. 

Three days later, by an Act of the General Coui-t, Jona- 
than Bacon, "a principal inhabitant of the town of Bedford," 
was empowered and directed to "assemble the freeholders 
and other inhabitants of the town, as soon as may be, to 
elect and choose ofHcers," to stand during the remainder of 
the official year. This he did, as he certifies, and convened 
them accordingly at the meeting-house, Sept. 20, 1770, 
and thus the first set of town ofHeers were chosen. Jonathan 
Bacon was the first moderator, Samuel Fitch the first 
town clerk, and John Fassett the first town treasurer. The 
other offices filled were substantially the same as now. They 
had not yet got so far as to ajijioint school committees, 
assessors, or tax-gatherers, thouuh the office of tithinir-man 
was not overlooked. 

Thus was the good sliip "Town of Bedford" fairly 
laiuichcd and on her voyage. Ia-I us see what her progress 
has been. 

To give a degree of method lo our intjuiiie.>, I >hall >[)eak 



ORATION. 13 

of her in what we may regai-d as the three principal functions 
of a town, as originally constituted in New England, viz., in 
her relations, 1. To the body politic of which she is a 
unit; 2. To the church and the interests of religion, which 
stand out so prominent among the reasons for her incorpora- 
tion ; and 3. To the general welfare and improvement of 
her own citizens, and of the comnmnity with which she is 
connected. 

Of course, in so wide a field, and with so narrow a space 
of time as I have now before me, I can but select salient 
points, and treat of them in the most cursory manner. 

1. First, then, in relation to the body politic, — to the 
interests of the State and the country. 

Bedford, as I have said, was introduced into the sisterhood 
of the towns near the beginning of a critical period of our 
country's history. Already the approaching thunder-storm, 
which discharged itself more than fifty years later, was be- 
ginning to flash and rumble in the sky. The house of 
Hanover came to the throne in 1714. Men high in oflice 
were insisting that the charters of the colonies were not 
irrevocable. In the year 1715 a bill to that eflfect was pro- 
posed in the House of Commons. Great jealousy discovered 
itself in England, in regard to our rising manufactures. "In 
a little time," it was said with alarm, "they will be able to 
live without Great Britain." As early as November, 1728, 
it was suggested '' whether a Stamp Act should not be ex- 
tended to America." In 1729, the very year in which Bed- 
ford was incorporated. Governor Burnet, of Massachusetts, 
had suo-o-ested to Lord Newcastle that " some of the British 
forces would be necessary to keep the people within the 
bounds of their duty." Of course such signs were admoni- 
tory. But time passed on, and other interests delayed the 
crisis. 



14 ORATION. 

But tho pooj)lo wore in a i-oiirse of preparation. In tlie 
old Indian and French wars, for example, they had l)een 
gettin<i' trained to habit;? of self-reliance. In these, Bedford 
had her share. AVhen Concord, lonii; Ijefore the separation, 
armed her people for defence against the savages and estah- 
lished garrison-houses, two of these, as her historian tells us, 
were within the jiresent limits of Bedford. I think I have 
seen the old cellar of one of them, still distinguishable in 
my childhood, near the roadside. And when Billerica, in 
gi'eat alarm, took a similar course, I recognize one Bedford 
name, that of Michael Bacon, whose house was thus appro- 
priated ; and Job Lane, uncpiestionably a Bedford man, 
"from his remote situation," says the record, "was allowed 
to fortify his own house, and have two soldiers, if the coun- 
try can spare them.'^ 

Those were rough and bloody times, any way. An ances- 
tor of mine, Captain John Stearns, tradition used to say, 
captured an Indian lad, and would have taken him home, but 
the boy fought so furiously, as he held him on the saddle 
behind him, that he felt compelled to despatch him, Avhich he 
did. 

In Lovewell's tight, near Fryeburg on Saco River, Eleazar 
Davis, one of the founders of Bedford, but a few years 
before its incorporation, endured incredible sutferings and 
barely escaped, — a crip})le for the rest of his days. And 
yet again Hugh Maxwell, one of our best citizens as well as 
bravest heroes, of whom we shall hear more hereafter, 
served bravely in the old French and Indian wars, and had 
the narrowest escape with his life. That was the same war 
in which Bedford's tirst minister, after his dismission from 
his peoi)le, served as a chaplain in a company in which it is 
at least inferred were more or less of his former parishioners. 
Maxwell ser\('d tive campaigns in that war. He went into it 



ORATION. 15 

as a private, and came out of it as a. commissioned officer. 
Mr. Shattnck says, " Several of the inhabitants of Bedford, 
sustained connnissions."' And yet again, Thompson Max- 
well, brother of Hugh, and a native of Bedford, Avho, accord- 
ing to the dates, entered the service when he was yet but a 
boy of sixteen, gives the following account of his connec- 
tion with it, in a communication to Gen. James Miller, of 
Salem : — 

"In 1758, enlisted as a private under Capt. Lovewell of 
the Eangers, reconnoitring with Capt. Samuel Brewer, of 
Waltham, went with Rogers' Eangers and destroyed St. 
Francis; destroyed their village, and upon hearing their war- 
whoop, we were ordered to disperse and take care of our 
selves. Chose Capt. Stark as our leader ; lost our blankets 
and those we left at St. Francis ; in eleven days arrived at 
first settlement. No. 4. Thirty-seven of our party died at 
White River, near Royalston ; sixty enlisted with Capt. 
Barnes of Chelmsford. Soon transferred to Capt. Whiting's 
company. At Crown Point entered the corps of Rangers 
under Capt. Brewer. In 1761 enlisted for the war.'' 

To the honor of the town, it is on record that after the 
close of the war the town voted " to abate the whole of the 
rates" of a certain class of those who had served in it, "and 
all the others their highway rates." 

And now the grand crisis in the country's history began 
rapidly to approach. In the preliminaries of that great 
struggle, the towns of New England stood prominent. And 
it is here that their peculiar aptitude and strength for purposes 
of mutual counsel, co-operation, and support, to which Mr. 
Jetferson refers, came prominently to view. The town of 
Boston, as being the largest, richest, and embodying the 
largest number of eminent men, naturally assumed the hege- 
mony. They sent out invitations to all the towns in the 



Ifi ORATION. 

province, inviting thoni now to take action and express their 
views, now to send deleirates to Boston for mutual counsel, 
now to appoint conunittees of correspondence, avIio should 
keep a \ii;ihiiit lookout iii)()n all the proceedings around 
llitin. Two of the meetings to which I reier "were held in 
Boston, in the autunui of 17GS ; and though they disclaimed 
all pretence to "any authoritative or governmental" acts, 
and sinii)ly contined their action to a pelilion to the governor^ 
that action was treated by him as a grievous ofience, and 
answered l)y a threatening letter. Their meeting, itself, was 
unlawful, he asserted. "At present," he said, "ignorance of 
the law may excuse what is past. A step farther will take 
away that i)lea," He warns them, as a friend, to hrcak up 
their meeting and separate, "for assure yourselves, the king 
is determined to maintain his entire sovereignty over this 
province." 

The transactions of those two meetings were received in 
Eni»:land with iireat indi<T:nation. The House of Lords took 

~ ~ ~ 

the case uj), and in a series of resolutions declared the j)ro- 
ccedings "illegal, unconstitutional, and calculated to excite 
sedition and insurrection in his Majesty's Province of Massa- 
chusetts Bay " ; the appointment of a convention of deputies 
from the towns in i)ursuance of them, and the act of the 
belectmen in calling such a convention, they declared " sul> 
versive of his ^lajesty's government," and that of the towns, 
in electing dej)uties to it, and the meeting of such conven- 
tion in consequence, "daring insults ofiered to his Majesty's 
iiuthority. and ;ui audacious usurpation of the powers of 
government." 

That was the same set of resolutions in which was made 
the startling declaration that to call in (juestion "the right of 
his Majesty, with the advice and consent of Parliament, to 
maki' laws and statutes, to hind the colonies and peoi)le of 



ORATION . 1 7 

America, subject to the Crown of Great Britain, in all cases 
whatsoever," was "illegal, iniconstitntional, and derogatory 
to the rights of the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain." 
(See "Newport Mercury," March 27, 1769.) 

But the people had carefully considered what their rights 
were, and knew well how to keep the limits of their char- 
ter. The governor at length made a distinct issue with 
them, at the opening of the Provincial Assembly, January, 
1773. These were matters, he affirmed, which a town had 
no right to consider. He was answered in a masterly paper, 
said to have been written b}^ Samuel Adams. A town nieet- 
fng, as he clearly shoAvcd, by the express terms of the law, 
had the right to consult and act in matters " of puljlic con- 
cernment." And these were matters of public concernment. 
The governor saw it now, and acknowledged it in his private 
correspondence. "By an unfortunate mistake" he wrote, 
" soon after the charter, a law was passed, which made every 
town in the province a corporation perfectly democratic, 
every matter being determined by the major vote of the 
inhalntants " ; a law, he admits, " which was unfortuyiatehj 
allowed by the Grovm.'''' 

Thus the towns triumphed, and the proceedings which had 
been instituted to secure union and co-operation and vigilance 
in the maintenance of their rights, went on Avith increased 
vigor. 

Now, what I Avisli yon to take note of here is, that in all 
these movements, Bedford, as far as I can ascertain, never 
lost an oppoi-tunity. There arc some papers on the town 
book which, were they not too long to recite here, would 
show, I think, beyond all question, that she l)oth understood 
her rights and duties, and was ever ready 1)otli to maintain 
tlui one and, at whatever sacrifice, to discharge the other. 

When a letter of correspondence was sent out to the 



18 ORATION. 

towns from :i town lucctinu- in lioston, askinir from each of 
them " a free eonnnunication of their sentiments," it stands 
on record, that on the first day of March, 1773, ''after sol- 
emu prayer to God for direction, and taking into onr most 
serious consideration the mehmcholy state of the British 
Colonies in Xorth America in oeneral, and this Province in 
])articidar, the town proceeded to make choice of Deacon 
Steplieu Davis, John Keed, Es(|., Mr. John Webber, Dr. 
Joseph Ballard, ]\lr. John ]\Ioore, Mr. Joseph Ilartwell, and 
Mr. Iluii'li Maxwell, to be committee, to take onr grievances 
under consideration, and to rcjjort to the town" at the next 
town meeting, to be held on the 31st of May. 

This large committee, comprising some of the ablest and 
most trusted men in the town, having had three months to de- 
liberate, brought ill a very full and carefully prepared pai)er, 
declaring their loyalty to the Crown, asserting their chartered 
rights, condenming, in a very decisive but temperate man- 
ner, the op})ressive acts under which they Avere sutiering, 
defending the course pursued by the people of the colonies, 
reconunending the most earnest elforts to restore harmony 
and a good understanding with the mother country, urging 
to stremious exertions to increase "the present agreeable 
union between us and our sister colonies," and making this 
decisive declaration of their feelings and determinations: 
"We should rejoice," they say, "to see the ditliculties under 
which we labor, ri'Hioved ; but if every method which can be 
thought of for the removal thereof should fail of success, 
we are ready to j(»iu with our fellow-sull'erers, even to the 
risk of our lives and fortunes, rather than give up our con- 
stitulional rights and charter privileges." The town voted 
unanimously to accept the report, to have it recorded in the 
town book, and that a copy of it be sent to the town of 
Boston. Signed riohn Keed, Town Clerk. 



OIJATION. 19 

111 that same year, 1773, Bedford had a representative, 
though not hy any appointment of hers, at the famous "tea- 
party" in Boston Harbor. It Avas Thompson Maxwell, the 
I)rother of Hugh, of whom I have ah-eady spoken. "I had 
come to Boston," he says, "with my team. I had loaded at 
John Hancock's warehouse and was ahout to leave town, when 
Mr. Hancock requested me to drive my team into his yard, 
ordered his servant to take care of it, and recjuested me to 
be on Long: Wharf at two o'clock p. m., and told me what 
was to be done. I went accordingly, and joined the band 
under one Captain Hews. We mounted the ships and made 
tea in a trice. 'I his done, I took my team and went home 
as an honest man should." 

I shall not attempt to vindicate the destroying of the tea. 
If justified at all, it must be as a war measure, or something 
of the kind ; and about that such men as Hancock ouffht to 
know. . 

March 7, 1774, "the town voted not to use any tea till the 
duty be taken oft'." On the 30th of June, 1774, when in view 
of the Boston Port Bill, l>locking up the liarl)or of Boston, 
and other oppressive measures, the stringent covenant of non- 
intercourse with the island of Great Britain was prepared 
and sent around to the towns, this town adopted it, si)read 
it at fall length on the town l)ook, and appointed a commit- 
tee of five men " to make a proper return of these proceed- 
ings, and to hold correspondence with other towns, in l)clialf 
of this town, as they shall judge necessary, until the town 
otherwise order." This committee is the sanie, with two 
omissions, with that last named, and is supposed to be Bed- 
ford's first Committee of Correspondence. When, in view of 
the distress inflicted on the inhabitants l)y that measure, the 
poor of Boston had to Ije billeted out upon the neighboring 
towns, Bedford had twenty-nine of these assigned to her. 



20 ORATION. 

The same year, Aug. 211, the town took into eonsideration 
"the })roj)riety of instructing the Committee of Correspond- 
ence Avith regard to a meeting of this county, to consider 
what is proper to he done at this alarming crisis, in respect 
to the several acts of the l>ri(isli Parliament," and left it with 
the committee to " do as they think best." I learn from Mr. 
Shattuck's History, that this county meeting or convention 
was held at Ct)ncord, on the thirtieth and thirty-first days of 
August, " consisting of one hundred and lifty delegates from 
every county in the State," and that the delegates from Bed- 
ford were Stci)heu Davis, John Reed, John Moore, and John 
AVel)I)er, the Committee of Correspondence themselves. 

In October of the same year, delegates were chosen to join 
with a Provincial Congress, "to be holden at Concord, on the 
second Tuesday of this month."' Dr. Jose})h lialianl and 
John Reed were the delejjates. At the same meetini;, the 
town voted twelve pounds to hepah: tiikih stock of row- 

DVAl AND OTHER AMMUNITION. 

On the 18th of Jamiary, 1775, they voted at tirst not to 
send a delegate to the Provincial Congress to be held in 
February; but on the 27th, a ni'w town meeting was called, 
and John Reed was chosen. Messrs. Moses Abbott, Thomas 
Page, Ebenezer Page, John Reed, and Edward Stearns were 
chosen at the same meeting, as "a Connuittee of Inspection." 

Now, there is something (juite sublime, as it seems to 
me, in the way in which this little town, one of the smallest 
in numbers in the State, " toed the mark," as we say, at 
every ste}>, and showed her hand, and that "a mailed hand," 
in cN'erv cineigciuy. 

1)111 tlie lime for xotc^. conventions, deliberations, resolu- 
tions, was now nearly })ast. liatlle, bloodshcij, war. a long, 
((•(lions, seven years' war, was just at hand. 

Tlie liatlle of liexiniitoii and Concord took place riglil 



ORATION. 21 

licre on our bonler.s. I shall not take up your liuu^ with 
any general description of it, nor attempt to tell over again 
the story which has been tokl so often and so well. Only so 
far as I must, in order to place in just and clear view, the 
part performed in it l)y the people of Bedford, shall I allow 
myself to enter into its details. 

On the evening of the 18th of April, a 1)eautiful, moonlight 
evening, a detachment from the force under Gen. Gage was 
discovered moving up the road leading through West Cam- 
bridge (then called Menotomy, now Arlington) towards 
Lexington. Parties of British officers had been seen, also, 
sauntering along over the same road. The object of these, it 
was suspected, was to explore the Avay, and the object of the 
moving force twofold : to capture, if possible, the two men 
most obnoxious to the British government, and known to be 
in Lexington, Hancock and Adams, but chiefly (for that 
alone could account for so large a force) to destroy the mili- 
tary stores collected at Concord. 

You are all familiar with the preliminaries and with the 
first act of the bloody tragedy near the Common at Lexing- 
ton. There the battle l)egan, there the first martyrs in the 
war of the Eevolution stood and received the deadly shot. 
There the fact became revealed that the American people 
were aclually at war. 

It was at the corner of the Bedford road, in Lexino-tou, 
that the first blood was drawn. 1 waive, for the present 
at least, the mooted question, "Did they redst at Lexing- 
ton?" They took the fire at Lexington ! They stood, they 
fell, in arms! 

The troops, having done so much, moved on to Concord, 
Init the news of their coming had preceded them. It had 
already gone out into all that region, and all that night, in 
all these peaceful homes, rang out the cry, " To arras ! " 



22 ORATIOX. 

The town of" rxMlford probably received the new-; nnionix 
the lirst. Two Lexington l)oys, or younir men, Nathan 
Munioc and Benjamin Tidd, at Capt. Parker's requesst, went 
up to Be<lford, some time in the eveninir, and as one of them 
lias tesllHcd on oath, "notilied the inhabitants, thro\i(jh the 
town, to the great road at Mcrriam's Corner, in Concord," 
and then retnrned by th:it great road, the Boston road, to 
Lexington. It may have 1)een one of them that waked up 
Ensign Page, so soon after he, with his young bride, who 
used to tell the story in her old age, had retired. It is 
quite likeh' that when they were ah^ig there, they made a 
short detour, and notified Capt. Wilson. Xo doubt, as 
they went up the road to Merriaui's Corner, they stopped 
at Capt. Moore's. I have often wondered how the Bedford 
men got mo^'ing so early, and were so early at the fight. 
This fact seems to account for it. They had all night to 
rally and equip in. That morning must have l)cen a stirring 
time in old Bedford, i)utting the facts together. 

First, Capt. Wilson and his minute-men, mIio had been 
drilling for weeks by the town's order, and at its expense, 
marched uj) the road and halted in front of Fitch's tavern. 
My dear old uncle, Solomon Lane, — he was Uncle Solomon 
to all the Bedford folks in his (jld age, but he was my 
fathers brother-in-law, a man of rare excellences, some 
roughnesses, no sham, who carried under his farmer's 
coat a heart as gentle as a woman's, — was one of the com- 
pany. I tell the story as he told it to me. "Capt. Wilson," 
he used to say, " was a fine officer, a Jine officer ! I well 
remember him as he looked that morning. He drew his 
men up in front of the old Fitch tavern, and said, ' Come 
boys, we'll take a little something, and we'll have every 
doir of them before niuht I ' He was," said Uncle Solomon, 



ORATION. 23 

"as lively as a l)ird, l)ut he never came home till they 
brouo;ht him home." 

Then there was the Bedford Militia, under Capt. Moore, 
I do not know where they rallied. I might think, on the 
Common near the meeting-house. Perhaps, however, as 
Capt. Moore lived up the Concord road, they may have 
rallied there, and l)y that means may have got the start of 
the others. 

Both companies, however, were among the first on the 
ground. Ension Page, it is said, laid down his beautiful 
flag;, with its o-ilt frinofe, on a stone, while he assisted in 
moving the stores, and when he came to look for it, the boys 
had got it and were playing soldier with it. 

The soldiers in the middle of the town who had been 
eno[ao;ed in removino- the stores, — our soldiers among the 
rest, — when they heard that the British were coming, went 
down the road to reconnoitre. The Bedford minute-men were 
on the ridge when they caught a glimpse of the approaching 
foe, and some of them said, as they looked upon their glit- 
tering arms and accoutrements, flashing in the morning sun, 
" We must spoil their fine uniforms before night." As 
soon, however, as they saw them, and saw what they were 
aiming at, all the Americans turned back and made haste to 
get on the other side of the l)ridge, where were some com- 
panies already gathering to prevent the British troops from 
seizing and destro3*ing it. There, as you know, at the old 
North Bridge, near where the monument now is, was the 
first vio-orous encounter. There was the first British blood 
drawn, and the British troops were worsted and compelled 
to retreat. 

You will naturally inquire. Where were the Bedford men 
at that juncture? Happily, we know where they were. 
The venerable Dr. Ripley, of Concord, wrote and published 



24 ORATION. 

a very cMrcfully prop.-ircd pamplilot on that Imltlc, many 
years ago. In dosciihiiii:- llic forces that were assembled on 
the farther side of the l)ridue, he sa3's (p. 17), "A eonsider- 
ablc miniber of the minute and militia companies of Bedford 
were seasonaMy on the ground. The former was com- 
manded by Capt. Jonathan AVilson, the latter by C'apt. 
John Moore." Then, after various other matters, occupy- 
ing several pages, he thus describes the order of the battk' : 
"The Americans being ready, and determined to move on 
the l^ridge, orders were renewed " — the same orders that 
were given at Lexington — " not to tire, nor give any need- 
less provocation, uidess fired upon })y the British; to which 
all assented. Col. Barret," of Concord, "then gave orders 
to march, and directed I\Iajor Buttrick," also of Concord, 
"to take the conunand and lead the companies." "Capt. 
Davis," of Acton, the gallant Davis who fell there, at the 
head of his men, "followed with his company." Then 
"Capt. Brown and Capt. Miles," both captains of Concord 
minute-men, "with their com})anies. Capt. Xathan Barret," 
also of Concord, " with his militia company. The captains 
from Lincoln and Bedford above-named fell in under the 
direction of Col. Barret, who continued on horseback in the 
rear, giving directions to the armed men who were momently 
increasing in number." 

Dr. Kipley adds, "The precise position of every officer 
and company cannot now l)e perfectly known. The for- 
ward companies became more noticeable." And among 
these eight forward ones it should be noticed that two, one 
fourth in niunbcr, were from our own town of Bedford. 

In that battle, Thompson Maxwell, a native of Bedford 
as I have said, was also present as a volunteer. lie had Just 
before removed his family to Amherst, X. IL, but he was 
still here personally at frec^uent intervals. "I remained," 



ORATION. 25 

he says, ''at my common avocations, till April, 1775. Left 

» 
Boston on the 18th, and got to my native town, and put 

np with my brother AVilson, Avho married my sister, and 

who was a captain of minute-men. Next morning early, he 

had orders to march with his company to Concord. He 

requested me to go with him. I Avcnt, well armed, and 

joined in the tight. My brother Wilson was killed. Next 

day I hired a man to drive my team home, and I never went 

home till after the battle of Bunker Hill." 

Meanwhile, the excitement in Bedford Avas not quelled. 
" All day long," as I am assured hy one who had the 
account from an eye and ear Avitness, "the bells were ringing, 
the guns Avere tiring, the people Avere dashing back and forth 
on horseback," and all that could be learned was "that there 
had l)cen an awful fight " and " ever so mauA" killed " It Avas 
not long after the Bedford companies had disappeared, that 
tAvo others, one from Keading and the other from Billerica, 
passed through the toAvn on their way to the scene of action. 
Both reached their places of destination, Merriam's Corner, 
within a few minutes of each other, and were there to meet 
the returning enem}^ just as their flank guard descended 
from the ridge. Both probably met here. Rev. Mr. Fos- 
ter, who was a A^olunteer in the Reading company, sa3's of 
them, referring probably to that from Billerica also, '' We re;?- 
dezvoiised near the middle of Bedford, left horses, and marched 
forward in pursuit of the enemy." 

About the same hour, and perhaps in company with one of 
the parties liefore mentioned, appeared here, tradition says, a 
veteran, clerical volunteer. It was the Rev. Isaac Morrill, 
pastor of the church at Wilmington. I have heard of the 
anecdote as being told of another party, but I am quite sure 
that I am not mistaken in the person ; I ha\"e heard it often 
from the best authority, and besides, it seems in perfect keep- 



2C) ORATION. 

m<f with his diaracter. There is now in my possession a ser- 
mon preaehed ))y him at AVihninuton, Ajiiil 3, 1755, ''to Cap- 
tain I'hineas ()su(j()<l and his (•()nipa)iy of soldiers, before their 
lioinii' out into jiiiMir service." That was when the \ew 
Kniiland States were straining every lu^rve to defend their 
<-ountiy from enc-roachments in the old French war. Its title 
is " The Soldier exhorted to Courage in the Service of his 
King and Country, from a Sense of God and Keligion." It 
has the true soldierly ring, and is as sound in morals and 
religion as it is hrave and patriotic. The anecdote in ques- 
tion is this : AVhen the news of the morning reached Wil- 
mington, l^arson Morrill at once seized his gun and mounted 
his horse. As he jiassed through Bedford, he called to rest 
his horse for a moment at the house of his brother Penni- 
man, and was surprised to tind him quietly at home. '" AVhy, 
brother Penniman, are you here? A\'hy on such a day as this 
are 3'ou not at the scene of contiict?" "Oh, I can't go." 
" Can't go ? Yes, you can ! Seize ^-our gun, order your horse, 
and come along with me." "Oh, I can't go, I can't go ! You 
go and tight, and I will stay here and pray." 

The peo})le, it is said, did not give him nuich credit for 
his prayers, seeing he would not act. But perhaps they 
misjudged him. Kvery man is not titted for every kind of 
service. 

]Mr. Morrill, tradition says, hastened on, and was at 
Merriam's Corner in season to do good service, in the sharp 
contlicts which followed with the retreating foe. 

But I nnist lea\e this. ('apt. A\'ils()n, as you know, was 
killed in the hot battles of the })ui-suit, having already gone 
through some of the tiercest of them ; and ,Jol) Lane, one of 
Bedford's lirst men, severely wounded and disabled for life. 

Bedford was represented also in the battle of Bunker (alias 
Breed's) Hill, by the two Maxwells. Hugh was the senior 



ORATION. 2< 

captain in Col. Prescott's regiment ; Thompson, a lieutenant 
in Col. Reed's. I follow Thompson's narrative. Both were 
on Breed's Hill on the afternoon of the IGth, at a consultation 
of the two colonels. At Col. Prescott's request, Captain 
Maxwell, who was an engineer, "laid out the ground for the 
entrenchments." His l)rother "set up the stakes after him." 
Prescott's reijiment remained on the hill through the night. 
Reed's withdrew to their post on Charlestown Neck at seven 
o'clock in the evening, but were back by daylight on the 
17th. It was then that, on Captain Maxwell's suggestion 
and Col. Prescott's order, the connecting link was formed 
between the " night's work" and '' the rail fence," and so the 
lines were completed. The two lirothers executed this order 
in the same way as the other. There Reed's regiment 
formed by Col. Prescott's order, and there Lieut. Maxwell 
remained, as he informs us, during the battle. He adds, 
" We were all drove from the hill. On our retreat we 
went in disorder, mixed up" 

And these are but distinguished specimens. All through 
that protracted war and the political movements that ac- 
com})anied it, the toAvn records, to a marvellous extent, 
beat pulse by pulse with the action of the coimtry. Mr. 
Shattuck, in detailing the contril)utions made here from 
time to time to the burdens of the war, both of men and 
money, closes one of his paragraphs with a note of admira- 
tion, and another, the closing one, with the remark, "When 
it is recollected that the town of Bedford then contained only 
about four hundred and seventy inhabitants, it is truly won- 
derful that they could submit to so frequent and so heavy 
burdens of pecuniary and personal service." 

And when the great irrevocable step was to be taken, sun- 
dering the colonies forever from the British crown, it is on 
record that " the town being met for the purpose of advising 



28 ORATION. 

their roprcseiitntivos whcthor the Iloiiornl)!!' C(>ii<ri"os>< slionld, 
for the .safety of the colonics, declare tlieiii iiKlei)eiuIent of 
Great Britain," the town voted "That -vve, the said inhabitants, 
will solcnnily engage with our lives and forlinies to sui)j)()rt 
thcni in the measure." There may not have been nuich 
poicer, i)erha})s, there certainly were not large imiubers or 
great resources, but surely there was much "pluck" and 
readiness, in what our daft, old roving Jester Chaplin used to 
call atfcctionately, "Our little disposition Bedford." 

In "Shay's licbellion," as it has been called, which l)roke 
out several years later, the town seems at tirst to have leaned 
strongly towards conciliatory measures. In the .tir.st conven- 
tion of delegates from the towns, which met at Concord, 
Aug. 28, 178(), such measures seem to have prevailed : and 
to the second, which was to meet on the Dth of September, 
its delegates Avere appointed cxpres.sly "in order to devise 
some salutary measures to <]uiet the minds of any ])ody or 
bodies of })eople that shall attemj)t to oi)})ose government in 
any unconstitutional manner whatsoever." AVhen, however, 
it became phiiu that attemi)ts at conciliation served only to 
aggravate violence, the town showed its hand ver}' decidedly 
in another direction. Fir.st a l)ody of volunteers was called 
for, who .should "march to AVorcester for the support of the 
Government"; and for the; encouragement of such enlist- 
ments, forty-two shillings per month was agreed upon. This 
body of volunteers, tradition says, was actually raised, and 
marched to Worcester under the command of Capt. David 
Reed. Another body of men marched to Concord and then 
to Stow in order to join (Jen. Lincoln's army, under the 
conmiand of Cai)t. Christopher Page. It does not ap[)ear, 
however, that any active service was re(juired of either of 
them, and the insurrection, though very violent at fir.st, was 
soon sup})ressed. 



ORATION. 29 

111 the war of the French Revokition, the people of this 
country took a deep and excited interest. At tirst it seemed 
to them all as if a new millennium was breaking in, but as 
time passed, and they saw what atrocities were enacted, and 
how perfectly mad many of the actors seemed, thoughtful 
and conservative men began to pause. A little anecdote 
may serve to illustrate this. An old sage of Billerica, who, 
however, lived just on the border and had many connections 
with Bedford, and no doubt spoke its sentiments, being 
away from his home, had occasion once to stop at a tavern. 
As he sat by the fire in the chinmey-corner, a company of 
rather noisy young men began discussing the French Revolu- 
tion. Not relishing their coarse jokes and profane expres- 
sions, he kept silent, and being a plain farmer, they did 
not notice him. By and by, however, the conversation flag- 
ging, they turned that way, hoping to get some sport out of 
him. "Come, daddy," said one of them, "what do you think 
of it?" "Humph!" said the old man and kept silent. 
"Come, come, old daddy," said the}' all, "you've got to 
tell us." At length the old man opened his lips, and began 
oracularly: " When the French Revolution began, and they 
were struggling, as I thought, for libei-ty, I went heart and 
hand with them ; but Avhen they cast oft" fear, and restrained 
prayer, gave their noble for ninepence, and their ninepence 
for nothing, then I gave 'em up." "AVell done, daddy!" 
cried they all, "well done, daddy ! " He said afterwards, "I 
felt small:' 

In our own war with Great Britain, the apprehension of 
French influence aflfected the minds of many. '1 hey thought 
the war unnecessary, and that it was stimulated l)y the 
intrigues of France. Still, when we were fairly in it, the 
people generally sustained the government. I well remem- 
ber the panic, when the apprehension got abroad that the 



30 ORATION. 

British were about entering Boston IIarl)or. The people of 
Boston scattorcul in cvorv direction, several faniiHos moved 
up to Bedford, — the Fitches and the Larkins and Es(|uire 
Hurd and his family, — and remained, I know not how h)nir. 
Al)out the same time a call was made for the militia coiniiany 
of Bedford. I well remember the panic that pervaded the 
families here, as they saw their husbands, brothers, and sons 
going forth, they knew not to what deadly conflicts. It was 
on ;i Sabbath afternoon that the company set forth : they 
marched first to the meeting-house, where solenni and car- 
nest prayer was offered l)y the minister on their behalf, after 
which the company was drawn up on the Common, near the 
east end of the meeting-house, and the ammunition distrib- 
uted to the soldiers, and then they nuuvlicd away, and the 
p(M)[)lc \vith sad hearts returned to their i)laces in the house 
of God. 

Ilappil}' for them all, the call proved to have been a mis- 
take. It was another compau}' that was intended. In a few 
days they wei'e released. I was playing by the roadside near 
the school-house, all alone, making forts, I guess, in the cart- 
ruts, when the sound of fife and drum caught my ear, and 
presently I saw the whole company march u}) the hill and 
pass by. 

These wars being over, there Avas, for m:my years, no 
general c-all for military sacrifices on the i);irt of tlu^ peo})le. 
PeMce princi[)les began to bo carried to an extreme. Many 
among us began to fancy that there was to be no more fight- 
ing ; but the time for that was not yet. 

In our <>-reat and terrible ci\ il war, when fratricidal hands 
were, raist'd for the destruction of tlu' uatiou, our goodly 
town was true to its aiu-estral character. The yomig men 
i"esponde<l prouijitly to its call for soldiiMs. The womeu, 
youuu' aud old, Itusii-d thi'Ui>el\A's iu pri'j);iring condbrls I'oi' 



ORATION. 31 

f 

the sick and wounded, and lint to stanch the l)lood, which, 
they foresaw, might be soon flowing from the veins of 
sons, brothers, fathers, husl)ands, lovers, in the deadly 
conflict. Some went as nm^ses to the camp. Fonrteen 
young men gave iip their lives in the service. In various 
w^ays, I learn on good authority, "not less than $5,000 was 
contributed to the war by this little town." The Soldiers' 
iMonument, a beautiful red granite obelisk, surmounted by 
an urn, erected at an expense of about |1,600 in our beau- 
tiful cemetery, is an afiectionate tribute to their memory 
from the ladies of the town. 

2. I pass noAv to consider my second proposed point, 
viz., the relations of Bedford, as a town, to the interests of 
the church and religion. 

This part of the functions of a town had its root in Avliat 
Avas the prime o1)ject of the settlers of this country. We 
have seen how this object stands foremost in all the plans and 
motives of the settlers here, and the prominence that was 
given it in the charter. 

The meeting-house, being uoav finished, at least so far 
as to be occupied, £40 was raised (the Jirst money ever 
raised by the town as such) " to maintain preacJiing among 
us." 

N"ext, as in old Bible times, the people '' ofiered wUUngJi/^'^ 
and a subscription of £179 10*-. was made on the spot, in 
sums of from £5 to £')ij to a man. 

Then they held a fast, and after the fast a town meeting for 
the election of a minister ; and the choice fell on Mr. 
Nicholas Bowes. This done and the terms for settlement 
and salary agi^eed upon, the pastor elect signified his accept- 
ance, and the ordination took place Jvdy 15, 1730. 

At the same time, and by the same council, the church was 
organized. The covenant on which it was founded is very 



32 OHATION. 

dearly and liappily oxpivssod and breathes an earnest and 
evangelical si)irit. Twenty-four male members, including 
the pastor, set their names to it, and a fe^v Avecks later the 
Lord's Supper was first administered. 

Of the ministry of Mr. Bowes I glean but little. 
One eminent citizen of the town and member of the church, 
John Heed, Esq., made profession of his faith during his 
ministry. We are already familiar with his name b}' its 
fro(|Ucnt recurrence in the town reccntls. lie died Nov. 20, 
liSOa, in the sevcnty-tifth year of his age, during the minis- 
try of Mr. Stearns, to whom he was as a counsi'llor and a 
father, and who, at his death, paid a most all'ectionatc and 
admiring tribute to his memor}'. 

]Mr. Bowes sustained the otficc of minister here about 
twenty-four years. Some occurrences of a painful nature, 
it is said, led to his dismission. There must have been, 
however, some redeeming features in the case, or the town 
Avould not have emplo^'ed him live months after his dismis- 
sion as a teacher of one of their schools, nor the military 
company already referred to have chosen him for their 
chaplain. His dismission was given him by the church 
Aug. 22, and by the town Sept. 2, 1754. The whole num- 
ber received into the church on profession of their faith 
during his ministry is one hundred an<l thirty-four. 

The next nu'nister Avas the l\ev. Xathaniel Sherman, 
brother of that distinguished civilian, lioger Sherman, of 
C^onnecticut, and grand-uncle of Judge E. R. Hoar, late 
attorney-general of the United States, and of Hon. (ieorge 
F. Hoar, United States senator from ^Massachusetts. Mr. 
Sherman seems to have been a man of earnest ])icty and 
ardent zeal ; but he was a man of feeble health and tluM'cby 
subject to frequent interruptions. The town dealt gen- 
erously \)\ him ill providing lor the >npply ol' the pnlpil 



OEATIOX. 33 

when lie was disabled, and only once seem to have got out of 
patience. It was during his ministry that Hugh Maxwell, 
whose name has been mentioned here more than once, came 
into the communion of the church. The Maxwell family 
came to this country from Ireland in 1733, and settled in 
Bedford. The parents were of the Scotch-Irish race, and 
very strict in their religious princiiiles. Hugh was but six 
weeks old when they emliarked Avith him for America. He 
must have had his home in Bedford al)out forty years. 
He was a fine specimen of a Christian soldier, as ardent in 
his piety as he was unflinching in the service of his country. 
He served not only, as I have said, five campaigns in the old 
French war, but through all the Eevolutionary war, from 
Bunker Hill till peace was fully restored. It was in that old 
French war that he narrowly escaped butchery from the sav- 
ages. And to the impressions made upon him in that provi- 
dential rescue, he ascribed his conversion. The whole case 
is very tenderly related by his daughter in a licautiful memo- 
rial of him, in which we find this record : " At the age of 
twenty-two he joined the Congregational Cluirch in Bedford, 
Rev. Mr. Sherman, pastor, and during his whole subsequent 
life gave evidence that his professions were sincere." 

Some time after Mr. Sherman's settlement a controverey 
arose respecting the terms of church membership. It was 
not peculiar to this town, but was one that was agitating the 
community of churches. The people diflcred (some of 
them) from their pastor, and that led to his dismission. 
His ministry lasted only twelve 3'ears, during which, it is 
said, forty-seven were received into the church. 

The next minister was the Rev. Joseph Penniman. His 
ordination took place May 12, 1771. A curious vote of the 
town stands on record here : " The toAvn voted that the day 
should be religiously oljserved, agreeably to the solemnity of 



,34 OKATION. 

the occasion, that they Avcro (Icteriiiincd, as much as in them 
lay, to prevent all levity, profaneness, music, clancins:, frol- 
icking, and all other disorders.'^ Very good in the main ! 
It is to be hoped, however, that sacred music was not intended 
to he excluded. 

Mr. Penniman is said to have had some marked peculiar- 
ities. . His expressions in pra3^er, it is said, were sometimes 
grossly irreverent and familiar. In my childhood several 
such were currently reported by the old people. Charity, 
howe\'er, would lead me to hope that some of them had got 
somewhat exajjoferated. 

HoAvever that may be, dissatisfaction at length arose on 
several accounts. An ecclesiastical council Avas called, and 
after three days' session, they advised unanimously a se])ara- 
tion. The church and town accepted the decision, and he 
accordingly took his dismission Nov. 1, 1793. Thereupon, 
the town voted, "To exempt Mr. Penniman's estate from 
taxation for five years, provided he should continue to 
occupy it so long." 

I come now to the ministry of Eev. Samuel Stearns. It 
was the last ministry which the town, as a town, had, and by 
far the longest. Having heard a larofe number of candidates, 
the church chose him for their pastor and. the town con- 
curred, and having agreed with him as to the provisions for 
his settlement and su})port, they made arrangements for the 
ordi)iation.* 

Col. Timothy Jones made the generous ofter to entertain 
the council and other ministers and candidates, free of 
expense, which olicr was accepted. Five men were chosen 

* Mr. Stearns's salary was cliaugcil several tiuR's duriiia.' lii-^ miiiistr^v, to 
meet tlie fluctuations of the eurrenc}' and other changes of tiie times, and 
was not llnally settled until the year 1811. In this matter tiie town 
always manifested toward liiiu a icenen^us lilterality. 



ORATION. 35 

as a committee to prop up the galleries, also to reserve seats 
for the clmrch and (X)imcil, and pews in the galleries for 
the singers. 

The churches of Lexington, Billerica, second in Wobnrn, 
Concord, Lincoln, Carlisle, Andover, Epping, N. H., 
Chelmsford, and the Rev. Drs. Willard, President of 
Harvard College, and Tappan, Professor of Theology in 
the same, constituted the council. Rev. Mr, French, of 
Andover, preached the sermon. 

A little anecdote may serve here to illustrate old times. 
When the answer to the call was sent in, the new pastor's 
expected father-in-law passed a Sal)l)ath in Bedford and read 
it to the people. On his calling the next morning at the 
house of one of the parishioners, conversation fell naturally 
upon the young lady who was to be the minister's wife. 
The story is, that the old grandfather, sitting in his big chair 
in the corner, put in a question, perhaps roguishly, " Can 
she work ? Can your daughter work ? " " Work ! Oh 
yes," was the quick reply. "I wish you could see. She 
works laces and muslin l^eautifully ! " 

jNIr. Stearns was the son of Rev. Josiah Stearns, of 
Epping, New Hampshire, a native of Billerica and a descend- 
ant of one of the first settlers. His mother was the daugh- 
ter of Rev. Samuel Ruofo-les, one of the ministers of that 
town. He Avas prepared for college at Phillips's Exeter 
Academy, and was a protege of its honored founder. He 
passed the first two years of his college life at Dartmouth, 
and then removed to Cam])ridge, Avlicrc he was graduated in 
1794. 

During all the early years of his ministry, he kept up very 
close and cordial relations with his Alma Mater, whose pres- 
ident and one of the most distinguished mcml)ers of its foc- 
ulty, as we have seen, took part in his ordination. They 



36 ORATION. 

were accustometl to send to him their suspended students, 
and a long list, ineluding some afterwards distinguished 
names, were from time to time thus plnced under his eare 
and instruetion. Among these was President Webbers own 
son, a young man of high promise and many attractive 
qualities, whose early death sent sorrow into the hearts of 
many. During his stay here, the visits of President Web- 
ber and his estimable lady were very frequent at the pastoral 
mansion. In those days, Avhen there were no theological 
seminaries, young men preparing for the ministry Avere 
accustomed to })lace themselves under the guidance and 
instruction of pastors competent to instruct them. ]\rr. 
Stearns, from time to time, had several, one of whom 
attained to high distinction. I refer to the Rev. Dr. AVillard 
Preston, of Savannah, who used to speak with nnicli ajjpar- 
ent satisfaction of having preached his tirst sermon in our old 
first Bedford meeting-house. 

In those days, the demands on clerical hospitality were 
much greater than people now have any conception of. The 
country taverns were not always a pleasant })lace of accom- 
modation for travelling ministers. Hence those who were 
disposed to be hosjjitable found their hospitality often drawn 
ui)on (juite beyond tlieir convenience. Such was the case 
not seldom at the pastoral house in Bedford, yet I never 
heard cither its master or its mistress utter a word of com- 
plaint, although the children, especially the boys, did some- 
times experience rather close packing. 

Mr. Stearns's ministry, reckoning it to the time when he 
ceased to preach for the town, extended over a period of a 
little less than thirty-seven years, or reckoning it to tlie time 
of his decease, a little less than thirty-nine years. 

It will, of course, be impossibh- for me even to allude to 
the many interesting events of that prolraded period. The 



ORATION. 37 

o;ood old fathers and mothers of the conijreofatiou came 
around him, and stood by him with a cordiality seldom real- 
ized. They were his counsellors, his supporters, his friends, 
and they, in turn, leaned upon him with afiectionate confi- 
dence ; and the young people, as they grew up, found in him 
the most cordial sympathy and the most tender interest in 
their welfare. Nothino- i^lcased him more than to enj^aoe 
their afiections and make them happy, and nothing seemed to 
please them more than to attract his attention and win his 
smile of loving recognition. 

He preached regularly on the Sabbath morning and after- 
noon, — never in the evening in the earlier days. The old 
meeting-house, I fancy, never saw a light except through the 
doors and windows, and never a fire, except in the foot- 
stoves. 

There was no part of the worship in which Mr. Stearns 
took greater pleasure than in the music, in which he often 
bore his part. He had a fine tenor voice, and in his college 
days had led the singing in the college chapel. If it chanced, 
as it sometimes did, that the choir was missing, the minister 
would set the tune and carry his own part ; and Uncle Sol- 
omon Lane, who had a voice, as they used to say, heavy 
enoug-h to " make the summers start " in the old oaken ceil- 
ings, would put in his bass ; and the ladies, with their sweet, 
gentle voices, would supply the treble, and the people gen- 
erally liked it so well that the choir soon got reconciled and 
came back. 

As to evening meetings, they were not much approved in 
the early days, but prayer-meetings were held at frequent 
intervals in private houses or at school-houses, and many 
other methods were from time to time adopted. Among 
others there was a society of the young people, called "the 
catechetical society," in which questions were given out, with 



38 OIIATION. 

references to Scripture places, which the members -were to 
find and write out, and to bring them in at a subsequent 
mcetinfl:. The minister had also his semiamuial " eatechis- 
ing,*' at Avhieh the children and youth used to attend, in 
numbers of from fifty to a hundred. For the younger ones, 
there was a book of easy questions, and for the older, the 
larm'r and more abstruse one. To encoura":e attention to 
this last, it "was provided that those who should recite the 
answers through at any one time, should be advanced to a 
special seat, called the " spectators' seat." It was very sel- 
dom that a meeting occurred, "where there was not some one 
or more, who aspired to that honor. Exercises like these 
have been superseded by better ones since the introduction 
of Sabbath schools. But Sabbath schools in those primitive 
days had hardly been thought of. 

In the visitation of the sick, ]\Ir. Stearns was [)eculiai'ly 
assiduous. I have been astonished in lookins: over his mem- 
oranda, to see how constant was his attendance, sometimes 
daily and even twice in the da}^ and from month to month, 
on the sick and dying ; and very signal was his success, espe- 
cially with the young, in soothing their sufferings, im])ress- 
ing upon them the truths of the gospel, and i)reparing those 
who were approaching death for a peaceful and even joyous 
departure. I could mention names not a few, but that 
is not desirable. 

He took a deep interest, too, in the secular affairs of the 
town, and used to open the town meetings with i)rayer, 
but never voted, except for State officers and in State and 
national aff'airs. In these he was always careful not to 
be wanting. I remember how the selectmen used to call 
ui)on him, sometimes in a l)ody, and walk with him to the 
place of assembling, and with what feeling of respect I used 
to look upon that dignitietl body of town magnates. It was 



OIIATIOX. 39 

one of the special advantages of the old town system, that 
the minister would reiyard the whole settlement as his charore, 
and its highest welfare, temporal as well as spiritual, as a 
proper subject of his attention. Mr. Stearns felt this, in the 
•early \ydvt of his ministry, to an eminent degree. He had 
taken Bedford as his charge, and having done so, he turned 
a deaf ear to the most flattering solicitation. His motto 
was, "I dwell among mine own people." One of the objects 
he had in view, in purchasing the fine, large estate in the 
middle of the town, which, with his small settlement and 
moderate patrimony-, he hardly felt able to do, was that by 
bringing the front lots into the market, he might promote 
the prosperity of the town. And so it proved. The first 
store ever built in Bedford was built on ground furnished by 
him for that purpose, and the first man that ventured on so 
bold an undertaking was a young friend of his and of his 
nol)le wife, by whose joint influence he was induced to under- 
take it. AVlien he had leisure or felt the need of recreation, 
nothing pleased him more than to go out into the fields with 
the farmers, and to talk with them about their methods and 
the results, and having had some experience in his youthful 
clays, he would sometimes drop a valuable hint. One of the 
best farmers we ever had here used to say that Mr. Stearns 
first taught him the Ijest way to plough. And so it was, in 
difterent ways and degrees, in respect to all the interests of 
the people whom, Avithout distinction of persons, he was 
accustomed to call " 7ny ijeople.'''' And the good old fathers of 
the town saw and appreciated it. They confided in his judg- 
ment ; they made him chairman of their school committee ; 
they sought his counsel in things secular as well as religious. 
And here, I must not fail to mention one of our most char- 
acteristic parochial institutions. I refer to the annual wood- 
cutting, to us boys at the old pastoral house, and perhaps 



40 ORATION. 

jilsf) to some of oiii" young ii(M2'IiJ>ors, ;il)oiit llio biuirost hol- 
iday of llu' year. As a i)art of tin; salary of Mr. Stearns, 
the town had ai^rced to mve him "twenty eords of i^ood, 
morohantable oak wood." It was given out in i)arcels, 
larger or smaller, to the lowest bidder, and brought on sleds 
during the winter, and })iled or " corded " up in stieks of 
four feet long and piles of four feet iiigh, along the east wall 
of the side doorj'ard. At the March meeting, the select- 
men came, often in a body, and viewed and measured the 
■wood, and if they found it satisfactory, would accept it and 
so rei)ort to the meeting. Thereupon, a time would be 
agreed upon, and an invitation given to meet and ''give the 
minister a lift towards cutting it up." Early in the after- 
noon, the men of the town, old and young, with axe on 
shoulder, gathered in the yard. And sure enough, it was a 
merry time, — ibrtyor tifty axes, wielded by the strong, nuis- 
cular arms of the farmers of the town, and two or three big- 
saws, each plied by two old men, and the big chips Hying in 
every direction, and the boys running to and fro with their 
wheelbarrows piling up the wood ; and then the lunch, with 
the big table set out of doors, and the doughnuts and the 
delicious droi)-cakes, and the bread and cheese, and the other 
refreshments, then regarded as salutary if only taken very 
moderately, and the jokes and the laughs and the shouts, 
which now and then made the welkin ring. I tell you, it 
Avas a merry time in the old wood-yard on " wood-cutting 
day." 

But the most conspicuous event in the history of this min- 
istry was the building of the now meeting-house in 1810 
antl 1S17. It was a great undt'rtaking' as the times were, 
liut the people of the town showed a large degree of resolu- 
tion and unanimit}'. Of all the pew-holders, not more than 
two or three showed any permanent dissatisfaction. The last 



ORATION. 41 

service in the old meeting-liouse was held early in July, 
1816. The sermon of the day took note of the event, but 
did not dwell upon it. That venerable house had been the 
theatre of nearly ninety yeai's of the experience of this 
ancient town. There had the four pastors of the church 
taken upon them their ordination vows, there had the old 
fathers and mothers worshipped, and there had three gener- 
ations of the children been baptized. There too, all through 
the memorable struggles of the Revolutionary period, had 
all the town meetings been held. But the dead past must 
not be in the way of the living and in-breaking future. 
That very week, as I suppose, the frame was stripped, and 
the old, heavy, oak timbers came to the ground with a crash. 
When the new frame was ready for the raising, the people 
assembled on and near the foundation, and with a few intro- 
ductory words, the minister led them in prayer. It was a 
bright July morning, and young and old felt the intensest 
interest. It was no trifling matter, to take up bodily the 
huge sides of that heavy frame and fix them together in their 
places, but the result was soon reached without accident. 
It took three da^^s, however, to complete the raising, and 
then again, on the seventeenth day of the month, the 
people assembled, and the minister led them in a prayer of 
thanksgiving, "standing," the record says, "on the floor of 
the ncAV meeting-house." Meanwhile, arrangements had been 
made to hold public worship in the school-house. The 
centre school-room was in some respects well constructed 
for that purpose. The meetings were generally well 
attended. Every corner of the house, gallery, entry, and 
floor was occupied with seats. The great wooden shutters, 
that separated the entry from the main room, were lifted up. 
"VVe little boys had to sit on the steps fronting the desk, and 
sometimes on the low, narrow steps leading to the higher 
6 



42 OKATIOX. 

range of l)enohos. On ploasant (la>'.s, it was not unconnnon 
to see the window-frames filled with caaer faces of those who 
were standinjj outside. 

The season ]n"oved to be one of peculiar religious interest, 
and was unu.-ii.iliy iVuitfiil in Christian results. The interest 
was kept u[) during all that autunni and winter, and in the 
spring, when Election Day eanie, that holiday of holidays in 
those times, at the particular request of the 3'oung j)eoi)le, 
the i)astor held a service specially for them, and })reached to 
them a very tender and ])aternal discourse from the second 
book of Chrou. xxv, D, "Jf thou seek Ilim, he will be found 
of thee." At the next communion in June, a comi)any of 
seven made profession of iheir faith, among them the pastor's 
eldest son, then a student at Phillips Academy. In a little 
more than a year, the innnber received rose to thirty, among 
them some Avho jiroved themselves, through a long course of 
3ears, among the most efficient members of the church and 
citizens of the town. I Mell remember a remark made by 
the minister as we were takinor leave of that school-house 
sanctuary, that this had been to him one of the happiest 
years of his life. 

But we were all s^lad enough Avlien the new house was 
finished and we got fairly into it. The " dedication day " 
was a great day in Bedford. Everybody congratulated the 
people. Many came in from the neighboring towns to 
attend on the services. The music was prepared with great 
care, and was SAveet and stirring:. The rich-toned bell rang 
out joyously from the steei)le, a sound not heard before by 
us under our own Bedford skies, and the beautiful inside 
clock, with its rich gilded frame, surmounted by a gilded 
eagle with sjjreading wings and a chain of gilded balls 
hehl in his beak, though not yet set in its })lace, was in full 
anticii)ation, and now as we look back, can hardly be sep- 



ORATION. 43 

arated in memory ; and to ns boys and girls, who had 
watched everj' timber and board and carving, as the work 
had gone on, the whole residt seemed a peerless specimen 
of the best and most iitting style of "meeting-honse '' 
architecture. 

The l)ell, weighing nine hundred and ninety-three pounds, 
was imported from London by Mr. Jeremiah Fitch, a mer- 
chant of Boston, and the clock was presented by him as a 
token of his affectionate interest in his native town. Bed- 
ford never had a warmer friend or a more generous and un- 
tiring benefactor. The widow's heart blessed him, the little 
children saw his carryall pass through the streets, as he 
came and went on his occasional visits, with a thrill of pleas- 
ure, and in the pastoral house his name with 3'oung and 
old was a household word. Mr. Fitch was particularly 
interested in the children. It made a lively time in the old 
Centre School when one of his big packages of "picture- 
books " was handed in for distribution ; and one scene has 
impressed itself unfadingly on my memory, in which the 
children in the summer school, being formed into a proces- 
sion under the leadership of the " schoolma'am," marched 
from the school- house to the Fitch mansion, and there being 
formed into a line, received each his little gift from the 
hands of two beautiful children of their beloved benefactor. 

The large association of ministers, of which the pastor was 
a member, were here in a body. Bedford town, in her 
ecclesiastical capacity, had by the acknowledgment of all 
acquitted herself nobly, and Avas prepared to enter upon a 
new era. 

Just one year after this, July 19, 1818, our first Sabbath 
school was organized. It was the result of a good deal of 
deliberation and forethought, and was at once attended with 
decided success. Eighty-seven members were present at 



44 ORATIOX. 

the iirst meeting. The largest nuinl)er at any one time was 
ninety-eight, the .smallest seventy-four, the average eighty- 
eigiit, the whole number of difi'erent persons during the 
season one hundred and nine. 

The school was divided into four classes, and each class 
into two divisions, the male and the female. Each division 
had its teacher. Mr. Benjamin Simonds was the first super- 
intendent, and managed its aifairs admirably. The movements 
were all conducted with a soldierly precision. Punctually 
at nine o'clock the exercises began, and punctually at the 
appointed moment wc left the school for the meeting-house. 
Each class walked in the order of its number, with its 
teacher at its head, and at the head of the whole column was 
the superintendent. Sometimes in crossing the Common, 
the pastor, arriving from the other direction, would meet 
them at an angle, and he then taking the lead, the whole 
procession would tile into the house, and then the M'hole 
company disperse to their places. I shall never forget those 
days, I am sure, or cease to hold them in grateful remem- 
brance. I have been acquainted with many Sunda}' schools 
since, and witnessed the introduction of many Sunday-school 
improvements ; but after all, none occupies a more conspic- 
uous i)lace in my memory, or a warmer one in my heart, 
than our dear old first Sabl)ath school in Bedford. 

But I nmst not dwell longer on this department of my 
subject. The ministry of ]Mr. Stearns was, as I have said, 
the last ministry in which the town, as such, exercised 
its functions. The town of Bedford, in its organic capacity, 
ceased to act a little less than forty-six years ago. It was 
an excellent arrangement at the beginning, — this constitut- 
ing towns into p:n-ishes, and making man, woman, and child 
interested in and responsible for the support of religion, 
bul it ceased to be so the moment men began substantially 



ORATION. 45 

to differ. The moment the disagreement became general, 
the system was doomed. Thenceforth, they who differed in 
opinion had to become separate in action. I do not propose 
to discuss here the movements that led to the separation. 
I was here on the ground during most of them, a not unin- 
terested observer ; although, not l)eing at that time a legal 
voter in the town, I took no part in its proceedings. Much 
there Avas that was painful about them. I have never been 
disposed to hold my fellow-townsmen on either side as alto- 
gether responsi])le for that. They did not originate the 
movement. It was the result of a great tidal wave of chang- 
ing opinions and ncAvl}'" aAvakened activities, which was 
sweeping over this whole region and Avas predestined to 
reach Bedford sooner or later. Different persons regarded 
the same measures in different lights. I am not here to be 
either an umpire or a partisan. The whole proceedings Avere 
related, as I think, in a very candid manner, many years 
ago by my lamented brother, the late President Stearns, of 
Amherst College. If any desire to read his narrative, it is 
to 1)6 found on the pages of the " Congregational Quarterly " 
for 1868, He says, in conclusion, "If Ave have said enough 
to meet the demands of the case, let everything else unpleas- 
ant be buried forever." Believing that enough has been said 
by all of us, and perhaps more than enough, I say Avith 
him, "Let CA^erything else unpleasant be buried forever." 

But I have a word or two more to say, before leaving this 
subject. The proper functions of the toAvn, in its corporate 
capacity, ceased, as I have said, in this department, Avith 
that separation ; but their results are not lost, and the 
responsibility which Avas once borne and discharged so Avell 
under the old system has not ceased, but is only transferred. 
We have now here two religious societies, each organized 
upon its oAvn principles, the heirs respectively of the okl 



46 ORATION. 

chiurh, and the old town in its ecclesiastical capacit}'. Let 
them now, each hy their own methods, and accordinir to 
their own convictions of the trne and the right, responsible 
only to (lod, and [)ayinii" all due deference to each other, 
con)l)ine their strenirth to make this whole favori'd po[)ula- 
tion, with all that shall arise in it or come into it, in the 
highest, fullest sense of the words, a pure, temperate, 
ui)riuht. God-fearing and God-loving j^eople ! And may God 
AlmightN' bless them both in so doing, and guide them in 
His way! 

H. There is one more dejiartment of my subject which 
I must not leave altogether unnoticed. It is the relations 
Avhieh our town of Iknlford has sustained to the general wid- 
fare and inj})rovement of its own citizens and of the connnu- 
nily around it. 

One of the first things that engaged its attention was 
the condition of the roads. It must be remembered that the 
territory which Bedford occupied was composed of the out- 
most wings of two contiguous towns. Of course it had 
really no centre, and no suital)lc system of intercominuniea- 
tion. The roads, if such they might l)e called, were like 
those ohl streets of New Amsterdam, described bv Washing- 
ton Irving in his " Knickerbocker," where, the magistrates not 
being up to their duty, the cows took \\\) the matter and 
trod them out as they went to and fro between bai-n and 
l)asture, according to their (jwn sweet will. 

During the first twenty-four years of its corporate existence 
this town was chiefly occupied with this matter. " Hearing 
the i-eports of" coinniitte<'s, hiyiiig out new higliways, widen- 
ing paths into comfortable roads, changing the })osition of 
roads, ehielly engrossed the attention of every town meet- 
ing." At the first settlement of the town, tliere seems to 
Uiiw been \U) direct road to Ii«'.\ington, cxeepi through 



ORATION. 47 

''gates and liars." So with the road to Concord. These 
beautiful streets, with their fine shade trees and smooth car- 
riage-paths and sidewalks and the well-built thoroughfares, 
leading in every direction to the adjacent towns, and through 
ihein to every part of the countiy, h;ive been the result of 
years of hard labor, perseverance, and expense. It is indeed 
exceedingly difficult, even for the local antiquarian, to find 
out where the first paths ran. They went straggling hither 
and thither, and most of them were hardly better than foot 
or bi-idle paths. The people had then no vehicles except 
carts, horse-sleds, and the like. They came to meeting, for 
the most part, either on foot or on horseliack, the husband 
sitting on the saddle, the wife on the pillion behind him, and 
the children tucked in here and there, wherever there was a 
place to bestow them. 

One of the two old horse-blocks which were conspicuous 
at the two ends of the old meeting-house, I understand, is 
still in existence. That tells the story. It ought, I think, 
if it were possible, to be brought out of its hiding-place, and 
exhibited here to-day as one of our most significant antiqui- 
ties. 

Gradually, however, the routes becoming fixed and the 
paths straightened, the whole became consolidated into a 
very comfortable, if not A^ery direct system of carriage- 
roads. Most of these remain to the present day, and A\ind- 
ing sweetly over hill and through hollow, aflbrding some of 
the most charming glimpses and surprises of natural scenery, 
far away to the ^Monadnock and Wachusett Mountains, being- 
kept in good condition, as i\\Qj have been and no doubt can 
be at a moderate expense by the town, still constitute and 
will continue to constitute, by the pleasant drives which 
they afford, one of the most charming and attractive features 
of the place. 



48 OUATION. 

But the advance of business and the opening up of the 
interior country at length l)egan to require facilities for 
more distant interconnnunication. In the year 17"J1, a pro- 
ject was st:u-t('(l for a new road with a new bridge over 
Concord River to Carlisle. Bedford shrunk from it at first : 
very little of the advantages and a large share of the expense, 
she perceived, was to come upon her. When, however, it 
was proposed, four years later, to carry it through and make 
it a thoroughfare, she took hold of it in good earnest and 
])('rf()rnKMl lu-r ])art liberally and energetically. She gave 
orders that the town should be divided into eight districts 
or wards for the raising of the means, and clothed her large 
committee with ample powers to build and complete the road 
on her side of the river, award damages to the parties who 
should suffer from it, and assess the inhalntants for the 
expense. 

It has proved, I Ix'lit've. ever since, a very valual)l(' aveinie 
of eonnnunication, and contributcMl an inijxjrtant part towards 
the convenience and prosperity of the town. 

jMan}^ years later, about the year 1823, another enterprise 
of a similar character engaged the attention of the jieojde. I 
refer to what was known at the time as the Chelmsford road. 
It was designed to o])en a ncAV channel of comnnniication 
l)etween Boston and the noitliwcstiM-n ])ortion of New Eng- 
land, the southeastern termimis l)eing in Bedford. It was a 
county road, and the county connnissioners of course took 
the res])onsibiIity : but the wishes of the towns lying along 
the route had an influence with them, and those towns, 
ill tiini, had to bear each their i)art in the exjiense. The 
project met. in some (juartei's, with a very determined 
oj)l)osition ; in one case, the bridge- by which it was to j)ass 
llie Concord River was demolished by a lawless mob; l»iit it 
was carried llir(»iii;li. 1 well rcnienib«'r the denioii>(rations 



ORATION. 49 

of delight with which its friends hailed its completion, the 
great sleigh-ride with which they celebrated it, and the 
flaunting guide-board with which they marked the corner, at 
which it terminated at the Bedford end, "Free Koad, Free 
Trade, and Teamsters' Rights." 

The expectation and completion of this road again gave a 
ncAV spring to the activities of the town. New houses were 
erected, new stores and places of public entertainment 
opened. Those whose memory extends to that time Avill 
readily recall the large, spreading wagons, loaded with 
barrels, that passed through our street in the summer, and 
the long train of pungs, that peculiar species of sleigh, laden 
with produce from New Hampshire and Vermont, some of 
them having passed through the Notch of the White Moun- 
tains, and every one of them made picturesque if not ghastly 
by one, two, or three large hogs' carcasses with snouts pro- 
jecting, on their way to the Boston market ; and how dole- 
fully, when they got caught in a thaw, the clumsy vehicles 
grinded their way back through the mud (every man walking 
by the side of his team and sometimes lending it a lift), 
bringing up loads of merchandise of various sorts, adapted to 
country use and for the supply of the country trade. 

That was a hard way of transportation, no doubt, but it 
displayed a merry scene to the lookers-on, when, on a fine 
day, the long trains, sometimes a hundred or more in a train, 
came coursing down tlje road and drew up in front of one of 
the taverns, seeking refreshment for man and beast, or per- 
haps lodging for the night. 

It was in close connection with the opening of this road, 
and over its track, that our first stage-coach, running from 
Concord, N. H., to Boston, made its regular trip through 
Bedford ; and when that failed, the Carlisle road afforded 
the requisite facilities, and for many years there was a stage 



50 ORATIOV. 

passing througli tlic town over Carlisle Bridge, between 
Groton and Boston. Now, tlic introduction of railroads has 
superseded all that sort of transportation, and after a long 
course of efforts, with many discouragements on the part of 
the people liere, the Middlesex Central, with a station 
within ten minutes' walk of the centre of the village, and with 
ciglit trains each way in a day, making connection with the 
great lines of transportation to all parts of the country, has 
left little to be desired in that department. Till about 1825, 
Bedford had no post-office. Now, the telegraph conveys our 
messages to tlie remotest regions, and tlie wires of the tele- 
phone, already stretched through our streets, will soon 
enable us to talk lip to lip across the breadth and length 
of the continent. 

But the industrial interests of our community are of own 
more importance to it than its communications. Bedford 
was, in the beginning, almost exclusively a farming toAvn. I 
dare say the mothers and sisters of the olden time spun as 
good thread and yam, and wove it into as good homespun 
cloth, as most of their neighl)ors. But manufticturing as a 
business had not been tried here. Mr. Shattuck says of it, 
"Bedford is not very well situated for an agricultural town. 
About half of it is meadow land, unimproved and partly 
incapable of improvement." No doubt such was the case, and 
more even might have been said. Our fathers had a invtty 
hard task set them to perform. But how have they 
fulfilled it? Look over these beautiful, smooth fields, with 
their rich l)urdcn of sweet hay which has but just now been 
removed into the barns, or those green corn-fields, where 
every stalk looks as if it might b(> a vast cluster or sheaf of 
living emerald, or those orc-liards, loaded Avith red apples 
and luscious pears. How came lliey to be what tliev ai-<^? 
Look Innk a lew vears. 'ranii:led >wanip>, wet mead- 



ORATION. 51 

ows, producing nothing but the coarsest of wild grass, 
rocky pastures, where the huge stones lay so thick together 
that the cows and even the sheep could scarcely get their 
noses between them ! Look at those heavy stone-walls ! 
Who piled those huge stones ? Who dug them out ? Who 
was bold enough to put a plough between them as they lay 
in their original places? Depend upon it, there has been 
hard work done here with brawny arm and 1)ack and sweat- 
ing brow, and there has been much wise, prudent, and 
enterprising management. I honor the men who can grapple 
with the forces of nature and reduce them to submission, and 
so make of the tangled wilderness a fruitful field and a 
garden of beauty ! And there has been a great deal of tliis 
laborious transforming work done here. Witness, for exam- 
ple, the beautiful grounds and picturesque lakelet and com- 
modious hotel at Bedford Springs. Who that remembers 
that spot as it was forty years ago could have supposed such 
a transformation possil)le ? 

But the activities of the people of the town have not been 
always and exclusively confined either to the cultivation or 
improvement of the soil. If tradition tells true, most or all 
of these little streams, some of which at the present day 
hardly do more than trickle through their obscure channels, 
were once the source of a very considerable degree of mill 
power which did not fail to be utilized by the people. Here, 
it is said, there was a fulling mill, and there a gun factory, 
and there again a carding mill, a saw mill, and a grist mill. 

Some of these have been in active operation within a few 
years. One of them, it is said, was so before the time oi 
King Philip's war. At one of them was established, not 
long since, a very thriving manufacturing enterprise, which 
bade fair to be permanently successful. But in the full tide 
of its activity, a disastrous fire destroyed both the building 



52 ORATION. 

and the machinery, and the workmen were dispersed and the 
undertakini^: abandoned. 

The town was also, at one time, the seat of a very success- 
ful manufacture of what were called " sale shoes," that is, 
such as were designed for the general market. It was intro- 
duced here by Messrs. John Hosmer and Jonathan Bacon as 
early as 1805, and is believed to have been one of the first of 
the kind in the country. It Avas pursued afterwards by the 
Messrs. Bacon, Simonds, Chamberlin, Billings, and others. 
About 90,000 pairs are said at one time to have been made 
in the town annually. The numerous Avorkmeu employed 
increased its population, the crowds of young apprentices 
tilled its schools, and the shops where hands were busily 
employed, and wits and tongues perfectly at liberty, were the 
scene of a social as well as industrial activity Avhich reminded 
one of the hum of a beehive. 

It may be thought this dci^artment of the activities of the 
town belongs rather to the enterprise of individuals than to 
the agency of the body politic, and so it does. But the two 
agencies cannot be separated. They act and react constantly 
on each other. The town itself acquires a character Avhich 
reappears in that of individuals, and the individuals have a 
character which they impart to the town as a body. It is 
through the peace, order, and security which the town gov- 
ernment insures to all the inhabitants, and in wliich they all 
partake, that the energies of individuals are best stimulated 
and their true manhood and sense of ]iersonal responsibility 
and self-reliance called forth. Tlu' industrial interests of 
our town have had their iliict nations, their successes, and 
reverses; but few towns, I think, in })r()[)()rtii)n to its 
numbers and I'acilitics, can show, on tlu' wliolc, a Ix'tter 
record. 

I intended to speak sonicwhal liilly of (he history dl' our 



ORATION. 53 

schools. It is to me an exceedingly interesting one, and 
highly creditable to the people concerned in it. 

It will l3e recollected that this suliject was among the con- 
ditions of the charter. The people must " provide a school 
to instruct their youth in writing and reading." 

The first record which I find of their action is in the year 
1732. The town then decided that they would have a school, 
and appropriated five pounds for the purpose. The next 
year again, they voted to have one, "but not at the centre." 
It was to be what was termed a " moving school," and four 
men were appointed to move it, that is, to change the place 
of holding it, " at their ow^n discretion." 

A committee of three was appointed to provide a master, 
and ten pounds was appropriated to sustain it. By and by 
they felt the need of a school-house, and a dwelling-house 
was purchased and fitted for that purpose. That now be- 
came the fixed place for the school. It stood near the west 
side of the Common and not far from the meeting-house. 
But there was need of schools in the "Quarters," and they 
made provision for one in each, the people furnishing room 
and fuel. During all this period, the appropriation ranged 
from ten to thirteeft pomids for the year. 

Then the Revolutionary war broke out, and for many years 
seems to have absorbed everything. 

That being over, the subject was again taken up. All the 
previous action was reconsidered and a new plan adopted. 
The town was divided into five districts and a plan adopted 
for the erection of five school-houses, none of them to be 
placed more than a mile and a half from the meeting-house. 
Those in the Quarters were first undertaken. A committee 
of twelve men was appointed, and eighty pounds was appro- 
priated for the purpose. 

This work being accomplished and the schools all well 



04 ORATION. 

settled in their respective districts and each provided with a 
new and suitable school-house, the town })roceeded, in the 
year 1804, to adopt a plan for their permanent management, 
and for this end a committee of five men were appointed. 
It consisted of llcv. Samuel Stearns, AVilliam Merriam, 
WilHam Webber, Thompson Bacon, and Col. Timothy Jones. 
At a subsequent meeting, this committee brought in a full 
and elaborate repoil. It contained seven articles : No school 
master or mistress was to be accepted unless " qualified 
according to law." The winter schools were to l)c opened 
and closed with prayer. The Bible was to be read in the 
schools daily. The Assemljly's catechism Avas to be taught 
in it. The masters were required to "impress upon the 
minds of their pupils the ininciples of virtue and piety, as 
connected with their respectability and usefulness in life, 
and also as highly essential to the support and well-being of 
our free Republican Form of Government." A school com- 
mittee was provided for and their duties prescribed. They 
were to use their endeavors to secure constant attendance 
on the part of the pupils, and those whose parents were 
unable to furnish them with books were to be furnished at 
the expense of the town. They were also to " examine the 
schools according to law," and make report of their condi- 
tion, and all difficulties that might arise in the schools Avcre 
to l)e adjusted l)y the committee, according to their own 
wisdom and good judgment. 

This last provision proved itself, in many a difficult crisis, 
a most salutary resort. It would often happen that some 
pretty rough elements would find their way into the schools. 
Of course complications would arise, requiring no small 
degree of vigilance, resolution, and decision on the part of 
the committee. I have in my mind two or three, whiih 
came more or less under my own observation, but I will 
mention but one. 



ORATION. 55 

That admirable old gentleman and admired preacher, the 
Rev. Dr. Gannett, of Boston, whose sudden death, by rail- 
road accident, sent sorrow and consternation through the 
whole community a few years ago, in his early college life 
came up to Bedford one winter to keep a school in one of our 
districts. He was young and delicate and refined. The 
rough, lubberly boys soon saw that he could not stand 
rough handling : they put him down, they ran all over him, 
they did just as they chose ; and the hardly less lubberly 
fathers got up an irregular district meeting, and forthwith 
voted him out. But passing through the middle of the town, 
on his way to Cambridge, he called on the chairman of the 
committee to bid him good by. Inquiries were made. 
The true state of the case was divined. "This is all wrong," 
said the chairman. " I will call the committee together, and 
we will have the matter investigated, and if you will come 
up, I will notify you of the time, and you shall have a 
hearing." It was done accordingly. The district were 
invited to be present. The boys and men were questioned, 
and the men required to bring in all their charges. Mr. 
Gannett was there. All parties were heard. The com- 
mittee came unanimously to a decision, exonerating the 
master from all blame, and reiustating him in his place ; and 
then granting him a dismission on his own request, they gave 
him a very kind and cordial testimonial. The gentle youth 
went back cheered to his home, but he never forgot it. You 
will find, I think, some traces of the case iu the admirable 
memoir of him prepared for the press by his son. 

The schools of Bedford, as far as I have had occasion to 
know of them, have been in general of a high order. It was 
only occasionally that serious difficulties arose in them. 
The admirable regulations of which I have given an abstract 
were renewed substantially fifteen years later, on the rec- 



56 ORATIOX. 

oramendation of a much larger committee, and with a few 
clianax'S, adapting them to the changing times, continue, I 
believe, to be the law of the schools here to the present day. 

Bedford has had, I tliink, no permanent high school or 
academy. One of the latter order was at one time contem- 
plated, but as there were several such institutions within 
easy access, it was not thought best to attempt it. How it 
was and where it was that the early college graduates 
obtained their preparatory instruction does not appear. 
Perhaps it was in their minister's study. Several of them, 
however, appear on the college catalogues. And one of 
them, Job Lane, who was graduated at Yale in 17G4, 
attained to high distinction, was a tutor in the college, and 
his monument, Avhicli still remains in Xcw Haven, bears a 
highly laudatory inscription in Latin. He died at the age of 
twenty-seven, Sept. IG, 1708. The whole number of col- 
lege graduates from the town, as far as I have ascertained, 
is eighteen, besides those who have received professional 
degrees. 

Private schools, however, from time to time, supplemented 
the instructions of the town schools. Such a school, for 
example, was kept for a considerable time for young ladies 
by ]\Ir. Stearns, in the early part of his ministry, and pupils 
from Concord, and even from Boston, came and availed 
themselves of the benefit. Such a school was kept for a 
time, also, by ]Miss Pha'be Sprague. ]\Ir. Stearns had also 
private pupils, titting for college, or pursuing some branches 
not ordinarily taught in the common schools. There Avas 
also a singing-school almost excvy winter in the centre 
school-house, at which all the young pooi)le throughout the 
town had the privilege to attend, 

Bedford schools come up in vivid rcnioml)rancc to some of 
us as we gather here on an occasion like this, — the spelling- 



ORATION. 57 

matches and the examination days, the snow-ballings and the 
wrestlings, the competition and the successes or failures, 
the merry shouts that made the " welkin ring," and the 
chasing of one another over the benches when the magic 
words Avere uttered, "The school is dismissed."' The dear 
old teachers, some of them, however, not much older than 
some of their scholars, who indeed " corrected us," some of 
us, " and we gave them reverence," at least after a while, — 
Master Chandler, Master Wheeler, Master Simonds, Joel 
Fitch, Philo Litchfield, Jesse Robinson, Miss Lucy Porter, 
Miss Betsy Sprague, Miss Patty Stearns, Miss Sarah Gragg, 
— how they come gleaming in upon the memories. These are 
all gone now ! But there is one left, and in " my heart's just 
estimation, prized above" them all, whose prolonged life 
still leaves her among us at the ripe old age of ninety-two. 
Yes, yes ! I shall not easily forget the tender care, the 
gentle correction and encouragement, which, at the tenderest 
age, I received, the first summer after her marriage, from 
Ruhamah Lane. 

But most are gone, and the dear companions of our boy- 
hood and girlhood, they too are getting fewer and fewer. 
Soon shall we all be "dismissed." ' May we get safely home ! 

But I must leave this subject, tempted as I am to pursue 
it. Our hour is more than out. I have come hither, fellow- 
townsmen and friends, to enjoy with you this gladsome anni- 
versary. I have felt myself highly honored by your choice 
of me for this service ; but many a time since I undertook 
to perform it have I wished most profoundly it had fallen 
into some more able and readier hands. 

And now what have we to do ? We have glanced over the 
past, and have been proud to see that our predecessors have 
proved themselves so worthy of their trust and privileges. 
Well it is that we should keep their memories fresh, and 



58 ORATION. 

teach our children and onr children's children to emulate 
their virtues. 

Bedford lias within her borders one memorial of the past 
which is of great interest. I refer to what is known both in 
our topographical and our civil history as " Brother Rocks," 
two large masses of granite, standing face to face with each 
other near the banks of our beautiful Concord River. 

John AVinthrop and Thomas Dudley were two of our first 
men in the early colonial days, the one the governor and 
the other the deputy governor of what is now our goodly 
Commonwealth. They had differed with each other, and the 
contest at one time became sharp. But they came up here to 
look after their lands. "They went to Concord," we are 
told, "to view some lands for farms, and going down the 
river about four miles, made a choice of a place of one thou- 
sand acres for each of them." There they halted. The con- 
test between them was now for precedence in concession, and 
each " offered the other the first choice." Finally Winthrop 
prevailed, and the first choice was accepted by Dudley. 
" So," the story proceeds, "at the place where the deputy's 
land was to Ijegin, there were tivo great stones, which they 
called the two brothers, in remembrance that they were 
brothers by their children's marriage, and did so brotherly 
agree." 

The General Court, we are told, in adding shortly after to 
the governor's land, " adopted the name of the rocks," in the 
act making the grant. 

Now what I wish to suggest is, if the intrusion may be 
pardoned, that this most interesting memorial, standing as it 
does on our own soil, in that part of Bedford known of old 
as Wintltrop Farms, ought to be carefully preserved and 
made as attractive and accessible as may be. AVe have 
many monuments all over the land to victories in war, and 



ORATION. 59 

the heroic men that achieved them. But here is one per- 
fectly unique. It is to victory over self, to hrotherly love 
and mutual deference, to peace and good-will ! Bedford 
Town, it seems to me, ought to secure the custody and man- 
agement of it. And an immediate movement to that effect, 
pardon the suggestion, would be a most fitting sequel to this 
our ses5'W2-centennial anniversary. 

The past has its claims, but the past itself is in order to 
the future. The old, even of the now present generation, 
are fast passing from the stage ; but the young, full of vigor 
and hope, are pressing on. Let young and old to-day clasp 
hands in mutual covenant, that, come what will, we will 
never sho\f ourselves unworthy of our birthright ! 

We, who return now from this venerable spot to our 
respective fields of labor and responsibility elsewhere, shall 
carry with us a profounder sentiment of respect and honor, 
and warmer filial affection for this, our own mother town, 
than we have ever cherished before. 

And let those who still enjoy the privileges of residents 
and citizens resolve with all their hearts to do the best in 
their power to make this beautiful and salubrious spot one 
of the most desirable, and that morally and religiously, 
as well as physically, in all the land, this goodly town a 
very jewel in the crown of her country and a source of 
blessings to all coming generations. 



SKETCH OF THE CELEBKATI0:N^. 



On the 30th of September, 1878, the citizens of Bedford, in 
town meeting legally assembled, voted to celebrate the one hun- 
dred and fiftieth year of their incorporation ; and chose a committee 
of five " to carry the action of the town into effect." 

This committee organized by the choice of Mr. Josiah A. Stearns 
as chairman, and the Rev. George E. Lovejoy as secretar}'. Several 
meetings were held. The 27th of August, being the anniversarj- of 
the assembling of the General Court that granted the charter, was 
fixed upon for the celebration. 

A few preliminary arrangements were made, and the subject was 
reported to the town, with a request to enlarge the committee, and 
also to appropriate a moderate sum for the defrayment of neces- 
sar}' expense. 

It was discovered that such an appropriation could not legall}' be 
made, and that matter was dropped. 

The town, however, enlarged the committee, gave them full 
power to fill vacancies and appoint all needed subcommittees ; and 
then selected the Rev. Jonathan F. Stearns, D. D., of Newark, 
N. J., one of Bedford's native sons, to deliver an historical address. 

The committee now began to work in earnest. Meetings were 
held nearly every week ; but as the business pressed and anxieties 
increased, it was but natural that some should become discouraged 
and withdraw. The places of such, however, were soon filled, and 
those Tvho now constituted the committee determined to persevere. 
They selected Mr. O. J. Lane for treasurer, and then sent forth, to 
all friends of Bedford, a circular, inviting contributions in sums of 
five dollars, more or less, to forward tlie cause. 

This met a very general and gratifying response. To inspire 
further enthusiasm, a grand rallying meeting was held, at which the 
AYoburn Band was employed, and speeches were made by the Rev. 
Messrs. Reynolds, Patrick, and Batt, the Hon. Jonathan A. Lane, 
and the president and secretary of the committee. A general 
interest was aroused, and everybody was willing to aid by funds or 
b\ work. 



62 SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 

Mrs. M. R. Fletcher gave the use of her beautiful fields near the 
Common for an assembling ground and a place to spread the 
mammoth tent. One set of individuals conti'ibuted money for 
putting tilings in oi'der about tlie ancient meeting-house, and repair- 
ing and painting the Common fence ; another, at the other end of 
the street, headed b}' Mr. Frederick B. Cutter and his father, pre- 
sented and erected an elegant liberty-pole, while still another col- 
lected a liberal sum for fire-worUs in the evening. Materials were 
freel}' loaned for tables and seats in the tent, and for arranging the 
antiquarian-room. Intelligent, gratuitous labor was also lavishly* 
given. P^ven the selected orator, tliough offered pa}-, declined to 
receive any pecuniar}' compensation. The town became every- 
where alive with preparation. The committee's plans rapidl}' 
matured. The governor and other distinguished gentlemen invited, 
sent in letters of acceptance or of cordial encouragement. 

The streets were adorned, and private residences were profusel}' 
decorated. The morning of the 27th of August saw everything in 
readiness for the following programme. 

1729. 1879. 

SESQUI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE INCORPORATION 
OF THE TOWN OF BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS. 

"Wednesday, August 27tii, 1879. 



ORDER OF EXERCISES. 

1. Salutk at Sunuisk by Battery. 

2. PUOCKSSION AT 9 o'clock A. M. 

Exercises in the Tent at 11 1-2 o'clock a. m. 

1. Mirsic BY TUE Band. 

2. PiiAYKU BY TUH CHAPLAIN, Kcv. Griiidall Ivcj'nolds. 

3. Intuoductouy Kkmauks by the presitlciit of the day, Josiah A. Steams, 

Ph D. 

4. OmoiNAL Ode by the president of tlic day. 

(Tune, " Scotx, vha ha'e.") Sung by ilio audience. 

Let us, o'er the loinithened way 
Turn a backward thoii-rht to-da}'. 
And the fathers' worth disphiy. 

Bless the uoIjIc men ! 
How with saiiitlj' step they trod, 
Bowed the heart to worship (iod, 
Scattered li^jfht and truth abroad, 

Taii;rlit thuiu t(j their hoiis ! 



SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 63 

Oh, when wild the savage strode, 

Filled with terror each abode. 

How their breasts with courage glowed, 

Trusting still in God ! 
Maul}^ lessons thus they learned, 
Every tyrant spirit spurned, 
And with noble ardor burned, 

Ever to be free. 

Backward still exulting look. 
See the stand the fathers took, 
When the nation's pillars shook — 

Briton burst in twain ! 
All the world sent forth a shout. 
Passed the joyous word about, — 
"Tyrants everywhere in rout, 

Let us all be men 1 " 

Grateful children as we stand, 
Loving sons of noble baud, 
Grasping each a brother's hand. 

Like them, let us be ! 
Fan the patriot flame yet higher, 
All to noble deeds aspire. 
Make the gazing world admire 

Worth and liberty ! 

5. Historical Okation, by Rev. Jonathan F. Stearns, D. D., of Newark, 

N. J. 
G. Psalm Ixxviii. 

(Tune, St. Martin's.) Sung by the audience standing. 
Let children hear the mighty deeds 

AA^'hich God performed of old. 
Which in our younger years we saw, 
And which our fathers told. 

He bids us make his glories known. 

His works of power and grace ; 
And we '11 convey his wonders down 

Through ev'ry rising race. 

Our lips shall tell them to our sous, 

And they again to theirs ; 
That generations yet unborn 

May teach them to their heirs. 

Thus shall they learn, in God alone 

Their hope securely stands ; 
That they may ne'er forget his works. 
But practise his commands. 
7. Bknediction. 



64 SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 

At the close of these exercises, persons holding dinner-tickets will form 
two and two, and proceed to the tables. 

Toasts, sentiments, and responsive speeches by the governor, distin- 
guished guests, and citizens, will follow the dinner. 

A salute will be tired at sunset and the bell will be rung. 

There will be an antiquarian exhibition, free to all, open through the 
day at the Town Hall. 

Conveyance may be had for a small price to the ''Two Brother Rocks," 
visited and so named by Gov. John Winthrop and Gov. Thos. Dudley, 1G38. 

Evening. Open-air concert at 7.30 o'clock by the Natick Band, and dis- 
play of flre-works. 

Cars run as follows during the day : Leave Boston and Lowell Depot, 
Boston, at 7.10, 8.25, 9 40 (Special) a. m. ; 12.20, 4.20, 5.25, G.25, 11.10 p. M. 

Leave Bedford at 5.55, 7, 7.50, 8.55 a. m. ; 12.55, 3.30, G, 7.40 (Special), 
9.50 P. M 

Notices selected from the " Daily Adverliser" and other papers 
show liow well the programme was executed. 

A SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE INCORPORATION 

OF BEDFORD. 

DKCOKATIONS OF TlIK TOWN AND THE MOl:NINO PROCKSSION — AX IIIS- 
TOUICAL ORATION BY TlIK UEV. DR. JONATHAN 1'. STKAUXS — 
AI'TEK-DINNKR SPEECHES BY GOVEUN'OR TALBOT, EX-GOVERNOU 
KICK, CONGRKSSMAN RUSSELL, JUDGE HOAR, AND OTHERS. 

"It's a great day for Bedford," said a motherly old lad\' to 
her neighbor yesterday, in the large tent in which were held the 
exercises of the sesqui-centennial celebration of the town's incor- 
poration. Perhaps the strange and formidable name given to the 
celebration upon the circulars increased the impression of some- 
thing vague and imposing, which one hundred and QtXy 3'eav6 and a 
long list of distinguished guests had already made profound. Con- 
sidering the size of the town and the length of the name given to 
the occasion, the people came up nobly to the requirements of the 
day. Even the procession, in length of route and time occupied, 
had a scsqui-centeiniialish character, and the celebration programme 
was not (iuished till m'cU into the evening hours. At frequent inter- 
vals about the village were fresh-looking national Hags, which cer- 
taiul>' could not be charged with duty upon a like occasion before, 
and many private residences were brilliant with red, white, and 
blue. In the Town Hall were many historic articles, some of which 
wanted an older term than " sesqui" to express their antiquity, and 
the modern part of the demonstration was in the vehicles, costumes, 
and persons who made ihe audience, though the old gentleman 



SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 65 

who revived his brass buttons and continentals must be excepted. 
A sunrise salute, a long procession, an historical address, a dinner, 
after-dinner speeches b^- good speakers, an open-air concert in the 
evening, and a displa}' of fire- works was the programme of the day, 
and it was thoroughly carried out. 



DETAIL OF THE PROGRAMME. 

BETWEEX THE SUNRISE GUNS AND THE EVENING FIRE- WORKS — A HOLI- 
DAY FOR THE PEOPLE — RELICS OF THE FATHERS —BEDFORD IN 
CIVIL, ECCLESIASTICAL, AND LOCAL HISTORY — WHAT THE GOVERNOR 
SAID — MIDDLESEX COUNTY, BEDFORD, AND CONCORD, AND THEIR 
ILLUSTRIOUS CITIZENS. 

Bedford had been decorated before the important day had actu- 
ally dawned, so when the sun looked over the hills, and had recov- 
ered from his surprise at the salute of thirteen guns that greeted 
his every-day morning performance, he saw the village lying be- 
neath him in unwonted beauty, with her red, white, and blue deco- 
rations strongly set off by the heavy green of the trees and pure 
white of the houses. Many houses were adorned, and places of 
historic interest were especially designated. Mention may be made 
of the houses of Josiah A. Stearns, the Rev. George E. Lovejoy, 
Merton Symonds, Mrs. George Button, the First Church, Isaac P. 
Bacon, Miss Caroline M. Fitch, A. E. Brown, Frederick Cutter, 
Mr. Charles Lunt, and others. Miss Fitch's house bears the fol- 
lowing inscription : " The oldest house in this village. Older than 
the town. Opened as a tavern by Jeremiah Fitch, Jr., in 1773, and 
occupied as such until 180?S. Capt. Jonathan Wilson, who was 
killed in the Concord fight, drew up his company of minute-men 
before this house, on the morning of April 19, 1775, and said to 
them, • We give you a cold breakfast, boys, but we will give the 
British a hot supper.' Here, also, the Reading and Billerica militia 
rested, and left their horses before going in pursuit of the enemy." 
Near by, in an old orchard, is the following record : " In this orchard, 
one Blood, a notorious thief, was publicly and legally whipped, 
about the beginning of this century." The old Stearns mansion, 
which was built by the Rev. Joseph Penniman, who was minister of 
the town from 1771 to 1793, bears upon its front the following, on 
the right of its main entrance : •' Built by Rev. Joseph Penniman, 
1790." On the left, "Stearns Mansion. Rev. Samuel Stearns, 
1796-1834. Owned by his son, 1879." The site of the first store, 
that of the old First Church, those of several residences that have 



G() SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 

long since disappeared, were also marked. Mr. Fred Cutlor and 
his father, Amos B. Cntler, Ksq., presented to the town a liberty- 
pole, which was planted in tlie old square. In front of the village 
cemeter}' was a flag inscribed " Revolutionary Heroes," while on the 
other side appears " Capt. Jonathan Wilson, killed at Concord light, 
April 19, 1775." In the cemetery, six graves were decorated with 
flags, being those of Capt. John Moore, leader of the Bedford 
militia at the Concord fight. Lieutenant Edward Stearns, Dea- 
con Moses Fitch, who was wounded at the battle of White Plains, 
Timothy Page, who was killed in the same encounter, and Job Lane, 
who was wounded at Lexington, April 19, 1775. In front of the 
Page homestead was displayed the banner which was carried by 
Nathaniel Page, with the Bedford minute-men company in the Con- 
cord fight. Mrs. Kenrick's house is supi)0sed to be the Shawshine 
House that records speak of in 1642, Hiram Dutton's house was an 
old garrison, and there ]\Iary Lane wrested tiie gun from the senti- 
nel, whom she could not convince that an Indian was lurking about 
the place, and fired at what he called a stump, but what her shot 
made a dead redskin. Historic sites generally were marked, 
among them being the grist-mill built before King I*hilip's war, by 
INIichael I>acon ; the hostehy where the Bedford, Billerica, and Read- 
ing farmers gathered to hasten to Concord and Lexington to repel 
British invasion ; the site of the first belfty used in the town ; the 
First Church, which for A'ears was the only one of the town ; the 
first store, and the house of Mrs. Stiles, erected by Rev. Nicholas 
Bowes, Bedford's first minister, in 1729. 

In the Town Hall was a collection of venerable relics illustrating 
the industr}', art, customs, comforts, and discomforts of old times. 
Among them may be named various portraits of Bedford worthies of 
pre-Revolutionary days, old books, deeds, and pamphlets, one being 
credited bj' the legend with being a cop.y of a letter of Jesus Christ, 
which would save the one in whose home it was from being hanged 
or drowned ; another lieing the record of a conference held at Saint 
Georges, in the count}- of York, Sept. 20, 1753, between com- 
missioners appointed by Gov. William Shirlej* to treat with the 
Eastern and Penoi)scot Indians. There were also a mirror in pos- 
session of the Stearns family, which is some three hundred years 
old ; top of the pine-table from which Hancock and Adams look 
their meals at "Parson" Clark's house in Lexingtou. in 1775; 
chairs some two centuries old ; the fiddle lirst usi'd iu the old 
church by "Jim Wriiihl," leader of the choir for iU'lx years ; a 



SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 67 

scarlet broadcloth cloak, lined with satin, which was a portion of 
the wedding trousseau of Madam Stearns, the wife of the minister 
of the town from 1796 to 1834 ; sword carried by Eleazer Davis in 
the war of 1776, also his commission as lieutenant; pulpit-window 
of the First Church in Bedford, built in 1727; flintlock musket 
carried in the Concord fight b^' Solomon Lane of Bedford ; mirror 
owned by Major-Gen. Putnam ; wedding hat worn by Madam 
Stearns in 1797 ; solid silver buckle given by a British drummer to 
Edward Flint of Bedford, on the day of the Concord fight, for his 
attention to the drummer, who was wounded ; Stearns family 
record (that of ex-Gov. Onslow Stearns of New Flampshire), 
wrought in silk ; desk and secretary formerly owned by Francis 
Rotch, owner of the ship ''Dartmouth," from which the tea was 
thrown overboard in Boston Harbor, Dec. 16, 1773 ; four engraved 
glass tumblers, given Madam Stearns on her wedding-day by 
Bushrod and Augustine, grand-nephews of Gen. Washington ; and 
a copy of the " Ulster Gazette," giving a full account of the death 
and funeral of George Washington. 

THE PROCESSION. 
Gov. Talbot arrived at Bedford at nine o'clock, being driven in a 
barouche from his Billerica home, and accompanied by Col. Lin- 
coln as aid. Upon his arrival, the Concord battery, which was 
stationed near the Middlesex Central depot, fired a salute of four- 
teen guns in his honor. Then Chief Marshal Calvin B. Rice and 
his aids, Charles Woods, Frederick Davis, and Joseph Goodwin, 
mounted, headed the procession, which was formed at nine o'clock, 
and after them the order was as follows : — 

American Baud of Boston, twentj'-five pieces. 

Concord Artillery, Ciipt. Benjamin. 

Concord Battery, Capt. Dakin. 

Six baronches containing invited guests. 

Natick Brass Band, twenty-two pieces. 

Sliawsheen Engine Company of Bedford, forty men. 

Wentwortli Extinguisher Company of Lexington, sixteen men. 

Barge, drawn by six gray horses, containing the girls of the Bedford 

public schools. 

Barge, drawn by four horses, containing the boys of the 

schools. 

Display of the trades of the town and citizens generally. 

Tn the street parade appeared the old chaise which the Rev. Mr. 
Stearns, last minister of the whole town, used to ride in fifty years 



68 SKETCH OF THE CELEBrATIOX. 

ago. Into it was harnessed an old, white, hucklebeny-and-milk- 
colored horse, so exacth' resenibhng the one that used to take the 
parson every Monday morning to visit the sick, who '• had up 
notes" the da}' before, that the oUl people thought both horse and 
chaise had been resurrected for the occasion. The team Avas 
driven b}- the minister's 3-oungest grandson, Master Wilfred Dudley 
Stearns, of Nashville, Tenn. 

The route of the procession was through South, Loomis, Lane, 
Spring, Main Streets to North Road to the North District School, 
countermarching to the tent on a lot opi)Osite the Bedford Hotel, 
twenty-five rods from the road. 

EXERCISES AT I'HE TENT. 

It was half past twelve when the procession reached the tent. 
"When all were gathered and the invited guests were on the plat- 
form, there were perhaps five hundred people beneath the canvas ; 
and among those on the platform were Gov. Tall)Ot, Ex-Gov. 
Rice, Ralph AValdo Emerson, A. lironson Alcott, Judge E. R. 
Hoar, Congressman "W. A. Russell, the Rev. Ilenr^" J. Patrick, 
Rev. Grindall Reynolds, Rev. Wm. J. Batt, Eben S. Stearns, 
D. D., Chancellor of tbe University of Nashville, Tenn., Rev. 
II. F. Jenks, Rev. John F. Gleason, Norfolk, Conn., Rev. J. F. 
Stearns, D. D., Hon. John S. Kej'es, Frank B. Sanborn, Rev. 
Mr. IIussc}' of Billcrica, Rev. H. A. Hazen, Rev. Dr. S. K. 
Lothrop, Rev. George E. Lovejoy, Rev. Dr. Grout, Samuel Hoar, 
Esq., Josiah A. Stearns, Ph. D., president of the day, and the 
selectmen and clergy of all the neighboring towns. 

A medle}- of patriotic airs by the Natick Band opened the exer- 
cises ; and pra3-er by the Rev. Grindall Reynolds followed. 

Then the president of the day, Mr. Josiah A. Stearns, Ph. D., 
gave a brief address, reciting how the committees on the celebration 
had been ap[»oiuted and how they had discharged their iluties. 

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 

Frievcls, Sons and Daughters of Bedford, — I congratulate you on 
the auspices of this occasion. A few days ago the heavens scowled, 
the skies wept, and though there were occasional signs of bright- 
ness, all was dark and portentous. So has it been with our period 
of pre[>aration. Our toils have been full of anxiety and desi)on- 
ileucy, but now, the skies smile, and if tliere still be some of nature's 



SKETCH of THE CELEBRATION. 69 

clouds above us, the.y can only serve as a darkened glass to secure 
our eyes against the effulgent glory of a divinely descending bene- 
diction. At an autumn town-meeting, Sept. 30, 1878, it was voted 
tliat the town would celebrate the one hundred and fiftieth year of 
its existence. 

A large and able committee was chosen to carry this vote into 
effect. Tiiej' were endowed with full powers, and authorized to fill 
all vacancies and to appoint all needed subcommittees. 

In town meeting assembled, an orator was chosen from among 
Bedford's own sons, to prepare an historical address for the occasion. 

The committee began their work. Various changes were neces- 
sarily made in their organization, till, at the present time, it con- 
sists of the following gentlemen : — 

JosiAir A. Stkarns Chairman. Cyrus Page. 

Rev. Geo. E. Lovejoy, Secretary. Chas. A. Corey. 

Oliver J. Lane, Treasurer. Calvin Rice. 

Jerome A. Bacon. M. B. Webber. 

A. P. Sampson. Amos B. Cutler. 

Henry Wood. E. G. Loomis. 

A. E. Brown. Chas. C. Clarke. 
Samuel Huckins. 

Under this committee several subcommittees, both of gentlemen 
and ladies, were appointed, partly from the people at large for the 
pei-formance of specific duties, and most efficiently have they 
wrought in their several spheres. Their names are registered, and 
will appear on the records of our celebration. 

As the town could not raise money for the purpose without an 
especial enabling act, it was determined to appeal to the sons and 
daughters of Bedford for assistance. Only small sums were asked 
for, and they came in from all directions, not only from the children, 
but from their "uncles, aunts, and cousins," till the general fund, 
aside from the sums contributed for special objects, amounts to 
more than $600. The various committees have toiled with 
unwearied faithfulness and through much anxiety ; but to-day they 
come forth triumphantly and present you with their finished work. 

I need not detail its particulars. You will find them sufficiently 
set forth upon the printed programme. And now, throwing off all 
care, we are ready to join you in the entertainments of the day. 
We do so with the full assurance that when we shall have listened 
to our town's history, we shall have no occasion to hang our heads, 
but much reason to rejoice and to glorify our ancestry. 



70 SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 

An original ode of fonr stanzas was next sung to the tune '' Scots, 
■wha ha'e wi' "Wallace bled," a part of the audience singing for the 
occasion, and the other part so far behind that the\- miglit have 
intended their strains for the next sesqui-centennial. 

Finall}' the singers came out together at the end, and then 
the president of the day introduced the orator, his brother, the 
Rev. Dr. Jonathan F. Stearns, of Newark, N. J. Dr. Stearns 
was closely listened to and frequently applauded, but as his dis- 
course is here printed in full, an}* abstract of it would be out of 
place. 

The Sevent^'-eighth Psalm, wliich had been printed to be sung by 
the audience, owing to the lateness of the hour was omitted. 
Benediction by the chaplain closed the exercises. 

AFTER-DINNER SPEECHES. 

Bedford Engine Company had entertained the visiting company 
from Lexington at the Bedford House, where a very fine repast was 
served in the dance-hall, and the excellent and generous dinner pro- 
vided by Caterer Tufts at the tent, in his best style, had been par- 
taken of by nearly five hundred people, when the president, at 
about four o'clock, called the assembly to order for after-dinner 
speeches. There was music bj- the band, and then the toast- 
master, Rev. John F. Gleasou, of Norfolk, Conn., a native of Bed- 
ford, announced the first toast, " The Commonwealth." Three 
cheers were given for Gov. Talbot, and His Kxcellenc}' spoke 
as follows : — 

GOV. Talbot's speech. 

Mr. President, — As chief magistrate of the Commonwealth, I 
bring ^'ou her congratulations upon this higli festival of Bedford's 
loyal children. Let me offer wiih those congratulations, my own 
heart}' personal greeting as a citizen of the mother town of Bil- 
lerica, as a neiglibor and a friend. I deem tlie presence of tlie 
executive peculiarly fitting on occasions like this, when the people 
of our ancient towns meet to celebrate their anniversaries, rehearse 
their inspiring history', revive tlie memory of tlieir founders, and 
contemplate the simple, sturdy qualities of character, in whicli the 
very basis of our Commonwealth is laid. "We read in the Massa- 
chusetts Bill of Rights, that — 

"A fre(]uent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the 
Constitution, and a constant adherence to those of piety, justice. 



SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 71 

moderation, temperance, indnstry, and frngality, are absolutely 
necessary to preserve the advantages of liberty and to maintain a 
free government." 

It is because events like this recall to us the principles of the 
Constitution, and that piety, justice, moderation, temperance, 
industrv, and frugality so necessary to their conservation, that the 
Commonwealth may well give them her official countenance and 
encouragement. Upon an adherence to these virtues depends the 
welfare of the towns ; upon the welfare of the towns rests the pros- 
perity, nav, the very perpetuity of the State. We owe to the 
towns what is distinctively the Massachusetts character. It is the 
product of the red school-house, the village church, and the town 
meeting. Preserve these nurseries of popular education, of reli- 
o-ious freedom, and of pure democracy, and we need fear none of 
the dangers which may seem to menace the future of the Republic. 
Now, Mr. President, the borough of Bedford passes into the ven- 
erable company of municipal corporations which have numbered 
one hundred and fifty years or more. Nearly sixscore of those in 
our borders have preceded her, and others will follow soon. West- 
ford reaches her sesqui -centennial less than a month hence ; Wil- 
minolou, a year later ; Tewksbury, in three years ; and half a dozen 
otlie's in ditferent parts of the State within five years. Among her 
new companions, Bedford stands the peer of any. She cannot 
boast, as can her more ancient and famous neighbor, of sons who 
have made themselves conspicuous in the councils of the State and 
nation, who have worn the judicial ermine, or led eager disciples 
along philosophic mazes of which no man can discern the begmmng 
or the end. But she points with just pride to accomplished and de- 
voted scholars who, hke the late President Stearns, gave the best 
fruit of their talent and culture to the cause of sound education. She 
displays, too, a long record of Bedford men, standing in the front 
ranks of business and the learned professions ; enterprising, suc- 
cessful merchants at the centres of trade, and at home, a sturdy, 
prosperous yeomanry, the sinew and muscle of the town. It is 
often said that, go where you will, in whatever part of the world 
you may travel, you will find our old Commonwealth represented in 
every vocation calUng for skill, brains, or self-sacrifice. You find 
everywhere the New England missionary, lawyer, doctor, merchant, 
manufacturer, and navigator. In all this the little town of Bedford 
has borne her full part. 

Mr. President, I wish to express once more the pleasure it gives 



72 SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 

me to take part in tliese festivities, and the personal interest I feel 
in all of 3"ou as neighbors and friends. Let us not forget in our 
rejoicing, that this da}-, like all others, brings us a dul}'. That 
duty, as I read it, is to adhere more closel}' to the principles on 
which our fathers founded this government, and transmit them to 
posterity in all their purity- and strength. Do this, and as we 
honor the memor}- of our fathers, so will our children, when we 
have passed away, " rise up and call us blessed." 

THE nON. "WILLIAM A. RUSSELL. 

" Tlie President of the United States" was the next toast, and 
the Hon. AV^illiam A. liussell, member of the national legislature, 
responded. Mentioning his lack of acquaintance with the town, 
he contrasted the virtue of the small towns with the vicious tenden- 
cies of large cities. In this connection, he spoke with praise of the 
action of I'resident Hayes in obstructing the attempts to give the 
cities power to offset the vote of the towns in the country. His 
mention of the character of President Hayes was applauded by his 
listeners, and he said that the Southern policy of conciliation, 
though not entirely successful, would doubtless become so. The 
United States having ceased its hostilities, proceeded to the honest 
payment of her debts with a fixed currenc}', in accord with other 
nations of the globe, and is now to enter upon a career of indus- 
trial and commercial prosperit}' which seems to be a fitting supple- 
ment to her recent heroic deeds. The President is in syinpnthy 
with the best interests of the whole country. With returning 
prosperit)' and the firmness of the President, our nation will main- 
tain its integrity, and all its people will be protected, at home and 
abroad. 

EX-GOVERNOR RICE. 

'' Middlesex Count}- " was toasted next, and as a representative 
of the county not onl}-, but also the State, l'>x-Gov. Kiee was called 
upon, and as he rose he was greeted with cheers, which bore witness 
to the popular esteem in which he is held. The substance of his 
speech follows : — 

Mr. Chairman and Ladies and Genllenien., — I have been trying 
to discover what fortunate incident or circumstance brought me 
within the circle of your kind remembrance, and extended to me the 
privilege and the courtesy of coming up here to Bedford to see how 
you would celebrate this notable and interesting anniversary. I 
have been enjoying the da}' without any limitation and without any 



SKETCH or THE CELEBRATION. 73 

restraint, though I confess to you, sir, that when I saw that pon- 
derous numerical adjective which preceded the announcement of 
your celebration llangJiter^, 1 thought there must be something 
crooked and sinister about the occasion. ILaughter.'] '• Sesqui- 
centennial," thinks I to myself, and I began to rub up all the 
ancient Latin in the primers and in the small dictionaries contain- 
ing phrases of various languages, to see whether I could find anj^ 
interpretation of that long-tailed and mysterious word. ILaugh- 
ter.'] Now the whole thing is explained. You invited me to come 
up here and listen to an oration and eat a dinner with you, and now 
you impose upon me your sesqui-centennial. \_LinigJUer.^ You 
have asked me to say something in regard to the county of Middle- 
sex. I am a native of the county of Middlesex, and am glad to be 
here because I am thus linked to the town of Bedford, and therefore 
I was brought into your celebration. The county is not so impor- 
tant in our State as it is in some other States, or in other countries, 
where it forms a little sovereignty by itself. With us it seems to 
amount to little more than geographical boundaries with judicial 
limitations and a few secondary powers, while the city and the 
town appear to us of greater prominence. I agree most heartily 
with what the orator said about the importance of the towns, and 
also with what was said about Jefferson and De Tocqueville. As 
His Excellency, the governor, has well said, so long as we preserve 
these little municipalities, the State will be safe, and as long as the 
States are safe, the country will be safe. But, sir, what the great 
Webster said of Massachusetts on a notable occasion, may be said 
of Middlesex County : " There are Lexington and Concord and 
Bunker Hill," there they will be forever ; they are here in our glori- 
ous old county of Middlesex. It was here in Concord that " the 
embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard round the world." 
lApjyl'ivse.^ The echoes of that shot have not yet ceased their 
reverberations. They come back to us on the wings of the air. 
They are gathered into the life of every day. They have entered 
into the civilization of our country and of the world. Liberty has 
taken from them new life. It was fired in the hope of a higher and 
purer manhood. 

But we need not go back to Revolutionary days for praises for 
the county of Middlesex. In the recent war of the rebellion, who 
answered first to the call? From what county in Massachusetts 
were the men first in line ? Who first shed their blood to maintain 
in its integrity the morality which their fathers saved, but men who 



74 SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 

went from the old coiinU' of IMiddlesox? It seems to me that 
much of the liistoric greatness of Massachusetts maybe traced back 
to Middlesex, and that she has contributed more to inspire patriot- 
ism and the hope of the world than an}- other communit}' of her 
size on the face of the earth. \_Ap2)lause.'] She is an important 
division of our Commonwealth. She is the largest count}' in terri- 
torial extent save one. She has a population of nearly 300,000 
people, and her wealth amounts, I believe, to something like $300,- 
000,000. She is a community in herself, and if she be called upon 
to do her duty in the present, as her representatives have always 
done in the past, I know that she is prepared to answer any reason- 
able expectation. I rejoice in American prosperity and in the 
present revival of business, and in the full share which Middlesex 
County bears in the maintenance of American industry. 

The next toast was " Jonathan Bacon, a principal inhabitant of 
Bedford, directed by the General Court to assemble the citizens of 
the town for their first town meeting." 

This called up Mr. Albert Bacon, who said he " supposed he was 
the oldest Bacon in town," when, the audience perceiving a joke, 
and beginning to make merry, the president responded, "Oh, 
never mind the age, we all love the Bacon that is so well pre- 
served." Mr. Bacon, recovering himself immediately, went on with 
a very interesting account of his illustrious ancestor, and of the 
Bacon family generally, that has played a conspicuous part in the 
history of the town. 

" Our chaplain, — coming to us weekly in the spirit of Concord, he 
proclaims peace and good-will among men," elicited a response from 
the Kev. (Jrindall Reynolds of Concord, who also lills the Unitarian 
l)ulplt of Bedford at the present time. 

UEV. GRINDALL REYNOLDS's RESPONSE. 

I should hardly have been willing to occupy your time had I not 
wished to express the satisfaction I feel in being, through this ollice 
with which you have honored me, connected witli this celebration ; 
one which must be i)leasant to remember and full of good intluence 
in the town for many years to come, — for all years to come. You 
have kindly said that I come in the spirit of Concord. I shall leave 
my friend. Judge Hoar, to say what the spirit of the town of Con- 
cord is ; but if our chairman refers to the kindly quality of concord, 



SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 75 

how could I come to a centennial mid to this sesqui-centennial in any 
other spirit ? For what is a town celebration but the remembrance of 
love and good-will enacted into practical facts? AVhat is the life 
of a town but the drawing of its people out of separation, out of 
isolation, into relations of the most satisfactory and helpful charac- 
ter? What is a town meeting, with all its varied interests, what is 
the church, what are schools, what even are all such material things 
as the very pathways and roads through our villages, but so many 
bonds to unite those who otherwise would be separated, each man 
caring for his own business, without thinking much of other people's 
interests and needs? And especially how could I come with any- 
thing but the spirit of concord to a town whose very soil keeps in 
memory a great act of concord You go to the banks of the Con- 
cord Eiver, and there are two stones named the " Two Brothers," 
which celebrate and keep vivid in memory the kindly and friendly 
action of Gov. John Winthrop and Lieut.-Gov. Thomas Dudley. 
And so in truth the first land in this region of Bedford, which was 
dedicated to the occupation of the white man and to the uses of 
civilization, was thus dedicated through a great and beautiful act of 

concord. 

You have heard the admirable address of this morning, and from 
it you can see what one little town can bring of great and honorable 
import fiom the storehouse of its memories, from the ample store- 
house of its history. And it seems to me that the best influence 
and the most useful result of a centennial celebration is that it 
thus engages all the people of a town (and I may say all the 
people of "neighboring towns) in common interests and common 
thoughts of a noble and strengthening character. And so I 
believe that when the pleasantries of this hour shall have passed, 
when all that has been done so well shall be simply a thing 
of memory, still, after all, it will be the memory of your common 
interests in something noble and good, and that this town will 
always be a better town, with higher feelings and especially with 
more love and good-will and concord, for such a memory. 

" Billerica, the loving mother who endowed her daughter Bedford 
with more than half her present territory," called out the Rev. H. A. 
Hazen, historian of Billerica, who said : Bedford represents the 
first dismemberment of Billerica. Since then, Tewksbury, Lowell, 
Wilmino-ton, and Carlisle have each taken a slice of Billerica. 



76 SKETCH OF THE CELERRATTOX. 

Eveiy town has its own pecnliar liistoiy. You can't put it all into 
the census returns. It is character in the men and women that 
counts. He regretted that the " Two Brothers" rocks had not been 
made the boundary between the two towns, and thought a perma- 
nent inscription sliould be placed on these stones as a memorial of 
interest to tlie people who are to come after us. 

"Concord and Bedford was given. Their intimate relations are 
fitly represented by Concord's distinguished son, the grand-nephew 
of Bedford's second minister, Nathaniel Sherman.'' Hon. Judge E. 
R. Hoar replied : — 

3Ir. President, and Ladies and Gen'Iemen, — Considering it for 
the time being as the principal distinction of my life that I had one 
of the ministers of Bedford for an uncle [laughter^, though on paus- 
ing to think of it for a moment, I do not see that it was a distinc- 
tion that I myself achieved, still, I am very much gratified at being 
called upon b}- j'ou to express to this town, on this delightful occa- 
sion, the feelings of the town of Concord towards the town of 
Bedford. 

I speak, sir, with a certain distrust, because, with that care which 
the town of Concord always takes that anj' of her children who are 
liable to go astray shall be looked after, I find myself seated with 
the town-clerk of Concord on my right, and three of the selectmen 
immediately Ijcfore me [^laughter and applavse'], and if I do not sa}' 
exactly what Concord would like to have said on this occasion, you 
see I am in a fair way to be stopped. [Laughter and appli%ise.'] 
Now, the relations of Concord and Bedford have always, 1 believe, 
been intimate and affectionate. 

When I heard or read, rather, that this was to be a " sesqui-cen- 
tennial" performance, I went to the dictionary like Gov. Rice 
[_kmgliter'] , but not being so modest a man as he is, I did not come 
to the conclusion that it referred to my speech. [^Laughter .^ But I 
saw tlirough it at once, when I came to find what the meaning was 
in the dictionary. I found tliis " sesqui " to l)e a thing and a half. 
As I say, 1 saw through it at once ; the natural instinct of the 
town of Concord would enable me to do so. \_Appl'nise.'\ Why, 
tliese Bedford people, knowing that we are some on the centennial 
up there, are going to get up a centennial and a half. {^Laughter 
and applause.^ As they say in the game of poker, "I see you, 
and go you one better." \_Laughter ] I call upon heaven and earth 
to witness that I know nothing about the game of poker, so you will 



SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 77 

pardon the quotation. \_Laughter and applause.'] But, on contem- 
plating what you were to celebrate, I tliought, What is it that our 
Bedford friends and neighbors are going to celebrate on this occa- 
sion ? There are various ways of looking at it. 

The first view that occurred to me was this, — that one hundred 
and fifty years ago there were a people that were discontented at 
having so far to go to meeting, and they concluded not to go so far 
an}' longer ; and now here is this great audience and this immense 
procession coming together one hundred and fift}' years after, to 
commemorate that event. The question would at once be raised, 
Why did n't the}' adopt the remedy that would occur to a very large 
portion of people nowadays and stay at home? \^Laughtt:r and 
ojjplause.] Well, in the next place, being excellent, pious folks, 
these Bedford people at that time, why didn't they think of the 
remedy which has occurred to their successors in this pleasant town, 
that if the mountain could not go to Mahomet, why, have Mahomet 
come some Sunday afternoon over to the mountain, dividing one 
minister between them, the way Ave have done since? [^Laughter.'] 
Well, there is another fact, a thing that makes the proceeding seem 
singular, and that is, that now, when you are celebrating their 
refusing to go so far to meeting, I believe that at this moment a 
majority of the church-going population in the town of Bedford go 
regularly up to Concord to meeting every Sunday to the Catholic 
Church, which I suspect their pious fathers would willingly have seen 
located a great deal farther away, so that it shows that the mere 
fact of adopting some method to avoid going to meeting at a dis- 
tance is of such temporary interest that it would scarcely be con- 
sidered of great moment on this occasion. 

My friend from Billerica has said " that Bedford people did not 
do any pioneer work." AVhy, yes, they did ; they were a part of 
Concord, our flesh and blood, until they left us ; they were a part of 
the family, and have fought it out on the same line as the rest 
of us. 

The way we look at it up there is, that this is the oldest daughter 
of the family, setting up housekeeping, marrying into a Billerica 
connection. [^Laiighter.'] Bedford was the oldest daughter, the 
first that was taken off from the old town of Concord. They have 
since chopped off several portions of her. "• Nine Acre Corner" 
once petitioned to be made into a separate town. If the petition 
had been granted, we could not have gone out of doors without 
stepping upon some one of the familv, like the " Old Woman in 



78 SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 

her Shoe." Of course, then, we have alwaj's been affectionate. 
There is a neighborhood in towns and a friendliness in towns, just 
as in families and individuals, and we have alwaj's counted on you. 

One curious tiling occurred to me during the deliver}- of the 
oration (if His Exccllenc}' will excuse m}' referring to it). AVlien I 
heard it stated that Concord gave its heart}* and willing assent to 
Bedford's incorporation as a separate town, and that Billerica 
opposed it until after the General Court had ordered it (the}' made 
the best of what they could not help) , I noticed that, in the recital 
of the act of the incorporation it says, "And it was enacted 
by the lieutenant-governor and council," etc. And I wondered 
whether they might not have had some Billerica gentleman as 
governor at the time, and the town was so much opposed to it that 
the lieutenant-governor had to see the thing through. \_Oreat 
langhler and «^)7)7a«S(?]. It looked very probable. [^Renewed 
laughter.'] "Well now, in thus making up two towns, and joining 
yourselves to Billeiica, you have undoubtedly escaped some things 
which you would have had if attached to Concord. In the first 
place, you have escaped the Stale Prison [cjreat lavgJder and 
ajyplaiise], by which, I mean collectively, in your municipal capa- 
city {_re7ieived laughter] ; your individual chances are not at all 
impaired. {_Uproarious laughter.] 

But I notice that whether on aii}' Scriptural basis or not, in your 
railroad system in this town, you have a broad road that leads to 
Concord and you have a straight and narrow gauge that leads to 
Billeiica. \_IJik(rious mirth.] But I do not want to disregard the 
fact that the orator of the day rehearsed to us, that one hundred 
years ago the people of this town disapproved of all levity. I trust 
they still continue to ; perhaps they do, perhaps they do not. But» 
to leave all levity aside, what you here celebrate to-day is the 
establishment of a New England town, and the importance and 
value of such an occurrence cannot, in my judgment, be overesti- 
mated. One of those communities which, as John Adams said, 
" rested upon the meeting-house, the school-house, the town meet- 
ing and the training-field," being the four elements of the man and 
citizen which have produced consequences in the government of the 
country which no other system of popular government has ever 
ap[)roached. 

" Men that stir senates with a statesman's words and look on 
armies with a leader's eye," have been the men, in our country's 
history, who were trained U[) in these little democracies. 



SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 79 

AVhat makes a, town in some parts of our country is a tavern 
and a blacksmith's shop ; what made a town in Massachusetts, 
jjjCrom the beginning, was a meeting-house and a school-house. 
[^Applause ."] It is well that jou come together and remember from 
what fathers 3'ou are descended, what honest power and conduct 
marked their lives and the history of your town. It is for us to 
remember with pleasure and pride that 30U are a part of Concord, 
you were with us in the Revolution. 

We remember that this little town of eight hundred inhabitants 
sent to the late civil war its eighty-two soldiers, of whom eighteen 
never returned ; we remember that Bedford has been true to the 
principles upon which it is founded ; on the principles to which, we 
trust, every town in Massachusetts, in all trial, will be found 
adhering. [_Tre7nendous apj^lause.'] 

A toast was given to " Ralph Waldo Emerson, grandson of 
Concord's most patriotic minister, that high son of liberty, the 
Rev. William Emerson. The world honors him for his own free- 
dom of thought and for his philosophic wisdom." 

The president of the day stated that he had invited Ralph 
Waldo Emerson to speak and he had declined, but he would call 
on him again, in hopes that he would respond. Mr. Emerson 
spoke A'ery briefl}^ : "I spoke the truth, sir, at first. I am sorry 
that I am not able to respond. I can understand with joy the 
speeches that I hear, but I cannot make one." 

The president replied: " It is a satisfaction to the people of 
Bedford just to see the man whom they admire, and, if I judge 
them rightl}', whom they love." \^ Applause.^ 

" The Eirst Church in Billerica, which furnished Bedford with 
half its original church-members," called up the Rev. C. C. Hussey, 
of Billerica, who believed in these old country towns, and advised 
his hearers to stay here, and keep up the culture and tone of 
the place, rather than to go to the cities. The First Church of 
Billerica has a most honorable record. He believed in these old 
churches, and would have these centres of worship well supported. 
Let the denominations burj' the old schisms of the past, and go 
forward together to bless community by being each other's helpers. 

"■ Schools and Education, they find a loving advocate in that 
friend of high culture and veteran teacher, A. Bronsou Alcott. 



80 SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 

His pupils have in their turn sent forth ' Little Islen,' and ' Little 
Women,' and ' M}- Bojs,' to delight and instruct the world." 

The venerable Mr. Alcott, now an octogenarian, replied to this 
toast in a lively and spirited manner. He recognized with pride 
the allusion to the illustrious authoresses, his daughters, and acknowl- 
edged their skill in the use of words. He urged upon all classes the 
need of more thorough training, especially' in our mother tongue. 
He claimed that now the women are far more accurate than men in 
the use of English. He would have more culture and refinement in 
our primary-school teaching. He sharply criticised the use of the 
word " depot," when we mean station ; and urged that our sisters 
be admitted to all the opportunities that are open to their brothers. 

" Samuel Fitch, the first town-clerk of Bedford, grandfather of 
Deacon Moses, wounded at Wliite Plains, and of Jeremiah Fitch, Jr., 
at whose house the minute-men were entertained on the morning of 
April li), 177"), and great-grandfather of the Jeremiah Fitch who 
imported the bell, and gave the clock and the Bible for the old 
society, and the land for a meeting-house to the new, and was a 
constant benefactor to all classes of Bedford people." 

Rev. Henr}' Fitch Jenks, grandson of the last Jeremiah, responded 
by pleasant allusions to the responsibilities of the earh' town 
" clarks " ; and b^' apt and striking selections from the Bible, 
excused himself, as a young man, from further speaking in the 
presence of age and wisdom. 

"The * Two Brothers' or 'Brother Rocks,' so named by Gov. 
John Winthrop and Deputy-Gov. Thomas Dudley in 1638," was 
responded to b}' the following letter from the Hon. Robert C. Win- 
throp, who counts among his ancestry both Dudlev and Winthrop. 

" BuooKLiNK, Mass., 22 August, 1S79. 
" JosiAii A. Steakns, Esq., 

Chairman of Celthrution Committee: 
" Mil dear Sir., — I am compelled to abandon all idea of attend- 
ing the Bedford celebration on the 27th inst. It would have given 
me great pleasure to visit ^our town on its one hundred and firt ieth 
anniversary, and to listen to the stors' of its rise and progress, as 
it will he told by your distinguished brother. I should have 
eagerly eiiiltraced the o[)portunilv to look on •• The Two Brothers,* 
— tho.se monumental stones within your town limits which com- 



SKETCH OF TTTE OKT.EP.UATIOX. 81 

meinorate one of tlie most characteristic and charming incidents in 
our earliest Massachusetts history. 

" Tlie controversies of Gov. Winthroi) and Deputy-Gov. Dudley, 
and their reconciliation in 1638, while your town was a part of 
Concord and Billerica, furnish an edifying example to contentious 
statesmen in our own and in all other days. As I inherit the 
blood of both these first fathers of Massachusetts, I may be 
pardoned for not presuming to decide which had the best of the 
quarrel, or which deserves most credit for its amicable settlement. 
Mutual concessions and brotherly love were abundantly displaj'ed 
by them both, and, instead of throwing stones at each other, they 
made the imperishable rocks their witnesses, that all malice and 
evil speaking and strife between them had ceased. 

"I cannot but hope tliat such an inscription may be put on these 
historic landmarks that they may never be in danger of being 
overlooked or mistaken. The Bedford of New England may thus 
have almost as notable an association with Thomas Dudley and 
John Winthrop as the Bedford of old England has with John 
Bunyan, whose statue I saw there a few years ago, not far from the 
jail in which he wrote ' Pilgrim's Progress.' 

" I thank the citizens of Bedford for their most kind invitation, 
and you for its courteous communication, and regret my inability 
to accept it. 

"Believe me, dear sir, with great regard, your obliged and 

obedient servant, 

"Robert C. Winthrop." 

The president now said these rocks had been so long visited only 
by the moles, he would make it an even thing, and call upon Mr. 
Butt to speak in their behalf. Rev. William J. Batt, a former pas- 
tor of Bedford, but now settled in Stoueham, responded. He 
commended the wisdom of the men whose lives and deeds are com- 
memorated by these historic rocks, and urged the protection and 
preservation of these sacred memorials of the past, so long as time 
shall endure. 

" Capt Jonathan Wilson," killed while leading the minute-men 
of Bedford, in 1775, called for a dirge by the band. 

"Bedford, the geographical centre and heart of Middlesex 
County," called up the Rev. H. J. Patrick, former pastor of the 
Evangelical Church here, at present settled in Newton. He said 
6 



82 SKETCH OF THE CELEBT^ATION. 

lie had lived in Bedford long enough to know and lovo tlie town, 
lied ford was m}- first love, and I love it still. Its rich farms are 
always attractive, lied ford is the safest place to bring up a famih' 
of children tliat 1 know. I shall ahvays rejoice in the prosperit}- of 
the place. 

Several toasts were unexpectedly but necessaril}- omitted for Avant 
of time. Among them were *■• The workers upon our committee. 
No one is better qualified to speak for them than the secretarj-, a 
prime mover, a skilled and elficient supporter of the cause, Kev. 
George E. Lovejo}." 

" The sons and daughters of Bedford, wandering North or South, 
turn back in loyal devotion, like the needle to the pole." This was 
intended to bring out Chancellor Eben S. Stearns, D. D., of the 
University of Nashville, Tcnu. 

" Our Editors, a press-gang which promotes order and intelli- 
gence," was a call for Mr. Frank B. Sanborn. 

" Pages of History. Nathaniel Page,, ensign of the Bedford 
minute-men in 1775, and his daughter, Mrs. Kuhamah Lane, still 
living in town, with intellect unimpaired, at the age of ninety-two, 
and at whose house the Page tribe have to-day been assembled." 
Kev. Lucius R. Page and George "W. Morse, Esq. 

"The Peed Famih', one of the oldest in Bedford." This was 
responded to by a congratulatory telegram from tlie Reed famih', 
assembled at Taunton, and signed by the Rev. S. Hopkins Emerj-, 
a former pastor in Bedford. 

The following, among other letters, were received from invited 

guests : — 

"Boston, Aug. 25, 79. 

" Dear Sir, — It is with great regret that I respond in the nega- 
tive to jour invitation for Wednesda}'. It would afford me very 
great satisfaction to be present, but I am not so far recovered from 
my accident as to allow me that privilege. Hoping that everything 
may go olf to the honor of your good old town and the benefit of 
American history, 

"1 am with great respect, yours, etc. 

" Marshall P. Wilder. 
" .losiAii A. Steauns, Chairman Celebration Cum." 



SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. bO 

"Naiiant, Aug. 23, '79. 

" Gentlemen, — Vleane to accept mj' thanks for the honor you 
have done me by inviting me to the Bedford celebration, on the 
27th proximo, kothing would give me greater pleasure than to 
visit the old familiar scenes, and to listen to the address of the 
friend and guide of my youth, the Rev. Dr. Stearns, long revered 
and loved by all who know him. An engagement to be at another 
meeting obliges me to decline this one. 

" May the memories which will be revived on this day serve to 
incite the youth of your ancient town to emulate the good deeds of 

their fathers. 

"Yours very truly, 

" Amos A. La"\vrence. 
" Messrs. Webber, Clark, Stearxs and Loomis, Committee:' 



'• Lexington, Aug. 19, 1879. 
"JosiAH A. Stearns, Esq., 

Chairman of the Committee of In citation : 

" In reply to your polite invitation to be withyou at your celebra- 
tion, I must say that while I thank you for the honor you have 
shown me, it is very doubtful whethei- I shall be able to attend. I 
can say most sincerely that ordinarily it would give me great pleas- 
ure, but while 'the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak.' Age and 
growing infirmities admonish me to avoid extra fatigue and excite- 
ment. I can only say that, if the day should be favorable and I 
should feel pretty well, I may possibly attend ; but the chances are 
against it. 

••' I regret it the more because I have always felt an interest in 
3'our town and people. Having been your guest on several festive 
occasions in days gone by, I have always been pleased with the 
zeal and unanimity with which your people have acted, all classes 
and condilions of the population manifesting a deep interest in 
the occasion. 

" In fact, if I mistake not, the good people of Bedford have 
always been ready to turn out fvomptly, whenever duty called. On 
the 19th of April, 1775, Bedford required no public command to 
go forth and meet the foe of popular rights. It Avas enough to 
know that the oppressor was abroad, to enforce the arliitrary acts 
of the British Parliament. The gallant Capt. Wilson did not stop 
to inquire whether the British had slaughtered any Bedford men, or 
had even set foot upon Bedford soil. It was enough for him and 



84 SKETCH OF THE CELEBKATION. 

his patriotic men to know that hnman rights Iiad been invaded and 
freemen had been slain, to induce him to appear in the held and 
add one more to the list of martyrs to the cause of freedom. What 
Bedford was then, she has continued to be, and I think tliere is 
good reason to believe she will continue to maintain her character 
by showing herself read}' for ever}- good work. 
" Ver}- respectfulh' ^'ours, 

" Charles Hudson." 

The festivities in the tent closed, and the people went forth to 
view the variousl}' decorated and l)cautifully illuminated dwellings, 
while the roar of forty-two guns and the ringing of the bell per- 
formed an evening salute. 

"When all was quiet, the multitude repaired again to the celebra- 
tion grounds, and were entertained b}* a brilliant display' of fir.e- 
works and the stirring music of an open-air concert given by the 
Natick Band. 

Every undertaking of the da}' seemed to prosper. The " Arling- 
ton Advocate" does but speak the general voice when it says, 
"Never have we been present on an occasion when eveiy one 
seemed to be enjoying themselves so fully. No accident marred 
the pleasures of the da}', and the management can but led that it 
was a success." 



SPECIAL COMMITTEES. 



FINANCE. 

O. J. Lane, Chairman. 

JosiAH A. Stearns. Chas. H. Clarke. 

Jkromk a. Bacon. E. G. Loomis. 

A. P. Sampson. Henry Wood. 

S. W. HucKiNS. C. A. Corey. 



BANQUET, TENT, AND GROUNDS. 

M. B. Webber, Chairman. Jonas E. Monroe. 

O. J. Lane. Henry Wood. 

S. W. HucKiNS, C. A. Corey. 

A. P. Sampson. Calvin Eice. 

procession and SALUTE. 

Calvin Rich:, Chairman. G. E. Lovejoy. 

E. G. Loomis. Capt. Cykus Page. 

JosEi»u Goodwin. Ered Davis. 



Henry Wood, Chairman. G. E. Lovejoy. 

A P. Sampson. M. B. Webber. 

ANTIQUITIES. 

Amos B. Cutler, Chairman. A. E. Brown. 

JosiAii A. Stearns. .Capt. Cyrus Page. 

LADIES assisting THE SAME. 

Mrs. Amos B. Cutler, 
Miss A. C. Stearns. Mrs. Chas. H. Clarke. 

Mrs. Sarah Sampson. Mrs. A. E. Brown. 

ladies to solicit funds. 

Mrs. Abbie Clark. 
Mrs. Henry Wood. Miss Lula Kenrick. 

Miss Sarah C. Sampson. Miss Annie Cooledge. 

Miss Hattie Mudge. Miss Mary Davis. 

Miss Anna March. Miss Lucinda Hosmer. 

fire-works. 
Mr. Joseph B. Goodwin. 

invitations. 

M. B. Webber. .Josiaii A. Stearns. 

E. G. Loomis. Ciias. H. Clark. 



PRINTING THE ADDRESS, ETC. 

Josiah a. Steauns. A. E. Brown. 



BEDFORD 



SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, 



AUG-. 37, 1879. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, 

BY ."^ 

JONATHAN F. STEARNS, D. D., 

PASTOR OF THE FIKST PKESBYTBRIAN OHUECH, NBWARK, N. J. 



^ Skcicl) of the CeJcbuatiou. 



BOSTON: 

ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS, 

34 ilcHooi. Street. 

1879. 



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